I feel I should preface this by: not trying to start a “flame 343” thread. Also not trying to say that the Infinite store is perfect (it is not). Maybe it’s me, I like to think in terms of there’s a problem, here is a possible solution. Anyways look at the video link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXA559KNopI
They brought up some interesting stuff about how to do micro transactions, and I was curious about thoughts. The only thing I disagreed with was when they talked about allowing EXP to be monetized, I think that essentially equates to selling power, depending on the game, so I’m not a fan of that. I prefer cosmetic only microtransactions because I get that making this game F2P, means the company still has to pull in money. Games are expensive and the servers that run them are expensive…so some form of money has to be pulled in. However, micotransactions in a game that costs $60 up front will be quite different from microtransactions in a F2P game. E.g. I love the game Ace Combat, but that game cost $75 up front (I’m not from the USA, games are more expensive in Canada), but because the experience was so fun I did pay a little extra for a few more DLC skins, and happily shelled out more for the additional story DLC. Halo Infinite, however, tries to rake in as much money as possible and I think the devs (or Microsoft, I don’t know who decided to go with F2P) took the “if you’re not paying, you’re not helping” approach to the store, which did more damage than good.
Anyways, what are your thoughts? Think the store is using these styles, or do you think they could implement some ideas here and it might help make things a bit better?
A final word: I’m really curious to see reaction and hoping to get interesting ideas exchanged. Not interested in a hating 343 contest, or my favourite line “real Halo fans (insert what they do here)”. That last one I find hilarious, as though a rando on the internet can define what constitutes a “real Halo fan”.
They literally had a blueprint ready made for them with COD MW and Warzone…all they had to do was copy that and make improvements. To get it so badly wrong when your competitors (at the time) got most of it so right is quite frankly astonishingly incompetent.
So I’m going to ask you a question. It’s an interesting comparison because Warzone was free in MW, but the campaign and the multiplayer was not, so one could argue that Infinite was “more free” than CoD was. What was it that you liked about the MW store that Infinite fails at? Also, considering the Halo fanbase is constantly harping on 343 to not copy CoD, do you think the idea of copying the store would’ve gone well at all with player reception? Isn’t that a bit of a double standard?
Context: I rarely play CoD. I only pop it in when I really truly do not want to use any of my braincells to think about something. My style of games are games that get you to think on a higher level, are philosophical, or have very compelling characters. I only played MW campaign and some social multiplayer. I have very little interest in CoD, so I’ll need you to provide context.
Ok first off…let me make it clear that if they’d had copied the COD MW and Warzone model then there wouldn’t be any complaints from me at all tbh. I played that game to death throughout the pandemic, and it was a life saver tbh.
Why? Well, the COD BP was not only full of half decent content but there was also 2 other things…you earned credits to buy the next season BP in full (so essentially a one time purchase) and they also had a career rank and weapon levels so your game XP and weapon XP would always be going somewhere (as I’m typing this I can’t actually remember exactly how it worked and I can’t be bothered to turn on my Xbox or Google it to check).
The store itself was well implemented and contained lots of content with regular updates, full of quality content (plus loads of crap too tbf), and most importantly…most items were fairly priced. I’m not a fan of microtransactions at all but I admit that I did buy a few bundles for my favourites guns.
For the record, I believe the Halo fanbase would only be worried if the COD gameplay mechanics were copied not things like the store or BP…and to be honest, if anyone would have had an issue with Halo copying how COD did things (just because it’s COD) with the store or BP then that would be their problem…it’s a perfect example of how F2P should be implemented and it engaged the player base which can only be showcased by how ridiculously successful and profitable COD Warzone was. As I said, all 343i had to do was copy the blueprint, add the Halo spin and improve it. Instead they did an epic fail.
For the record, I only play 2 games…Halo and COD, however I haven’t bought or played Cold War or Vanguard mainly because of the era of those games, the forced crossplay for Xbox players in Warzone, and the complete lack of effective anti-cheat to prevent cheats using hacks ruining the games. I was totally up for and invested in Halo Infinite to be hugely successful but I’m massively disappointed in multiple aspects of the game…and it is now being reported that COD MW2 may release slightly earlier this year. Obviously Microsoft have now purchased Activision so we’ll see how things pan out but 343i have approx 9 months to sort this game out otherwise I’ll be jumping back on COD…and I suspect thousands of others like me will do the same without hesitation.
Doesn’t Call of Duty just charge for Season Passes/Maps?
It was massively successful because 1. It was CoD 2. It was free and 3. it was a Battle Royale
Which is sad as hell.
First of all, giving them 9 months is a huge amount of time for them. I suspect no paid game can realistically compete with a F2P Halo, I’d be far more worried about what Apex does.
The biggest thing I like about CoD’s store, is that they didn’t take away anything to add it. You still have unlockable guns, camos, reticles, attachments, perks, etc. With Infinite they decided to cut out colors to add in coatings. That would be like if to add in different weapon skins CoD decided to get rid of camos. But that never happened.
I know that’s not directly an issue with the store, but I really do feel the reason we don’t have colors isn’t because they couldn’t figure out a way to work then in with Coatings. They could have, Halo 5 essentially had coatings (different armor variants) and still had colors. I feel the reason is because if players could pick their colors, then they’d have less incentive to buy coatings. And it’s that taking away of features that have been franchise staples for decades only to sell that back piecemeal that I despise most about the store.
Try reading the context and the questions I was replying to….or do I have to request your permission to discuss other games and make comparative statements on here?
Lmao giving them 9 months before you quit the game is completely useless… I just hope you didn’t give them $60 for their sub par campaign and I hope you didn’t spend any money on the shop or their useless season pass.
I don’t know. I haven’t played COD since last May and haven’t been following what they’ve done or doing with Cold War or Vanguard. For COD MW you simply bought the game, BP was introduced alongside Warzone (if I remember correctly), the BP was essentially I one time purchase if you didn’t spend your earned credits in the store on cosmetics, and they never charged for maps in COD MW or Warzone (not whilst I was playing).
Because they created, developed and published an excellent game with a very profitable business model that engaged the playerbase. There is absolutely no reason why Halo Infinite shouldn’t be as successful or even more so…it’s Halo, it’s free and a Battle Royale may be released in the future (it was months before Warzone was released on the back of MW). The only thing stopping it are the failings of 343i…but they have time (apparently 10 years of time if you believe that nonsense).
Unlike you…I clearly have a life and don’t have time to play more games. I didn’t actually realise how many different games I played was a mark of how successful I was in life…I bow down to your infinite knowledge and wisdom.
9 months is a huge amount of time for them? Really?! They’ve had 6 years…SIX YEARS!!! Remind me again how long BTB has been broken for and they don’t know what has caused the issue?! I think you need a reality check if you think this broken -Yoink!- game is going to be on the road to success before MW2 is released…I really really really hope it is because I love Halo but I have absolutely no confidence in 343i. Seriously…why do you think Microsoft have bought Activision? Have a little think about that.
Nah I upgraded 3 years of XBL Gold for £1 so got it essentially for free on Gamespass…and no, I haven’t bought the BP or anything in the store. I’m more than happy to support this game with my pocket, but I simply can’t justify it whilst the game is in its current state. I also agree the campaign was “meh” and the BP is a .
Again, try reading. The OP asked me specific questions about the COD store in response to my comment about the blueprint that 343i could have copied and improved upon. I have absolutely no idea why are hung up on this when both myself and Kitten above have provided him with information.
The blue jay is a passerine bird in the family Corvidae, native to eastern North America. It lives in most of the eastern and central United States; some eastern populations may be migratory. Resident populations are also in Newfoundland, Canada; breeding populations are found across southern Canada. Really?! You’re a bird that speaks English and types on the internet. I think not.
Games are super complicated nowadays and typically have much more content (towards the end of their lifecycle that is) so I kind of think that playing more than a handful of games (unless you are an achievement hunter or something) is just wayyyy too time consuming. Its not just learning all the controls, the meta, and so on, I just think that going from one game to another constantly is more trouble than its worth.
Cool thing about shooters is that they are all very very similar, so its not like if you are a top level Halo player you go into CoD and can’t hang, so I think shooters probably have tons of people that swap between them like socks or something. Sort of like how fighting games players are.
If you only have like a dozen hours a week or something then maybe playing more than one game at a time isn’t worthwhile, but regardless so many different shooters out nowadays. Destiny 2, Apex, Fortnite, Siege, heck even games that are a bit older like Gears 5 or TF2 are still awesome. Franchise fatigue sets in for everybody because as your expectations rise the quality never catches up. I think my mind got a lot of rest from not playing Halo 5 to death when it came out. Besides, you could always just come back to Infinite like years later I don’t understand what would stop you exactly. Like yeah you wouldn’t be able to hit max rank or whatever frivolous thing the game has set up but the content or whatever they add to Infinite over time would be there waiting for you when you come back.
I think you took my comment the opposite way it was intended, I am confused.
They are likely to reduce the price on it soon I’d imagine. I would be surprised if it sold remotely well what with no Co-op and all.
I’m sure most people got campaign through game pass so they have no need to reduce the price. I bet you they won’t because of how desperate and greedy they have shown themselves to be.
That’s fair, so what do you think you would monetize if you were 343 and released a F2P game? One can’t and shouldn’t monetize power. Would you put armour pieces behind levels and you could pay to skip them or do you have a different idea?
So all those points are fair, thanks for the context. How would you translate this to Halo monetization if you were in control? When thinking about Halo fans expecting certain things compared to a CoD fan?
They already made their money. The campaign that is incomplete, while also no longer including multiplayer was still full price. They also had pre-order editions, battlepasses added in, monetized challenge skips, and XP, and now the overpriced microtransaction storefront.
At the very least there should be a way to earn everything through gameplay even if it’s somewhat slow.
.