Forge will not save Halo. It might even just be that final nail in the coffin

Games Halo Infinite
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The player base is gone. There aren’t enough people left playing this game to fill the number of playlists as well as the advent of custom games lobbies. Slowly, the time it takes to find a match in any given playlist will gradually take longer as the novelty of forge wears off, returning players still recognize that this iteration of Halo is a shallow cash grab, and the only remaining players are now split between custom games and traditional matchmaking. The longer wait times will incentivize people to turn off the game and create a positive feedback loop of waning players being spread thinner and thinner across the already existing and newly emerging playlists. 343 will recognize that the number of playlists is actually hurting player retention and subsequently remove the least popular of the playlists from among the selection. This will be the final straw for some and the player base will continue to shrink from there, feeding the positive feedback loop as this game slowly fades into gaming history as one of the most poorly managed multiplayer games to ever exist. No one will be left to spend money on their almighty shop, and the budget for the game will gradually slip to nothing, ending developer support for the title.

All we have that is good about this game is the core gameplay. That in and of itself is not enough to sustain a healthy playerbase. 343, you have forfeited the majority of your Halo fans in pursuit of creating a source of revenue instead of a game made to reward your loyal fans. You reap what you sow.

Halo is dead, long live the microtransactions.

Here’s a bit of constructive criticism, 343: Stop listening to your CEOs and CFOs and start listening to your fans. At the end of the day, youre making a product that is going to be monetized vis a vis fans of Halo, and no one else. The question is whether or not that ship has already sailed…

Let me just add that the devs did a good job with what they had. This is an extremely satisfying game to play. But that satisfaction is quickly eclipsed when you realize how constrained the experience truly is. The management screwed this one. As did Microsoft.

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343 business model…

FOMO
The major lack of content
Missing basic futures like Co-Op, etc… a year into the game
The lack of play list
Making unnecessary changes to some game mods
How the maps were designed to be more of a cluster
Making us look like beacons removing the Red vs Blue
Removing things like collusion, assassinations, etc…
Basing maps off of the SP with the added bonus, “RNG”
Sound effects/visual effects
The rank system
The SP that has turned into more of a grind than anything else.
The major lack of customization
Using previous titles items as bait
Over pricing items in the shop while offering less in value in terms of earned items
Only making small petty changes to try to keep the player base at ease.

I only scratched the service of things that add up to why the player base will continue drop off.

343 needs to wake up and small the coffee because the forge will only bring some back but with things like custom games having issues, players are not going to be happy about that either that that is another thing to add to the list of issues.

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If only Elden Ring came out 6 years ago, and if only 343 Industries would’ve learned from the lessons of its unrivaled success.

Good games get lots of sales, loyal playerbases and cult infamy. They don’t need microtransactions to turn a large profit, and they don’t need to be the latest hit genre to get the public eye; they need to create games worth playing and paying for… well past their expiration dates.

Like Bungie’s Halos. Halo Reach even. The MCC after finally receiving full post-launch support.

Halo Infinite is exactly as valuable as marketed: completely and utterly worthless; free. We wouldn’t pay money for this experience and they wouldn’t either. It speaks volumes.

They aren’t playing the long game. They aren’t asking, “what are people going to remember about this game 10 years from now?”

If it keeps going this way, the answers aren’t going to be very good.

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I feel like this video perfectly encapsulates everything wrong with Modern Halo (A.K.A. 343 Halo).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgdzsekAo5s&ab_channel=TheActMan

If you listen to some of the original developers from the Bungie era of Halo games, they knew how to have fun, and how players have fun with their products.

I’ve already written about this stuff in other forums, so forgive me if I don’t go in to great detail. But the short version is that Bungie knew how to design their game to cater to player-to-player social interaction. It wasn’t just innovative, it was cathartic.

They are the ones that created features such as Forge, Custom Games, File Share, In Game Voice Chat, Proximity Voice Chat, Veto Option in the Pre-Game Lobby, Firefight, Campaign Co-Op (for both Split Screen and Online), etc.

Like, my god, there are so many features that made Halo amazing. And in each game in which each feature was first introduced, these features were present AT LAUNCH. And the experience was just incredible.

343 has not been able to do that. And frankly, I think they’re jealous. I think they know that deep down in their hearts that they either don’t have the skill set or the willingness to buck corporate overreach and aggressive monetization to work with Bungie’s successful formula. You know, the formula that was already able to reach 343’s desperate broader audience. The fact that they keep taking down posts comparing them to Bungie is evidence of that.

I haven’t played a single match of Halo Infinite since the first day of the Alpha Pack event, in which I unlocked everything in three hours. There’s nothing left that can motivate me to play the freaking game.

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Absolute DOOMER of a post lmao. But sadly read it nodding my head the whole time. Very very sad.

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At least the publishing team at MCC is still hard at work. Once all of the mod tools and steam workshop are released, we won’t need them anymore.

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100% agreed, Infinite’s Forge needs to release with a custom games browser or it will fail, it also needs more of everything (maps, community features, communication, playlists, HEK, co-op, etc) and for the game to stop crashing and desyncing all over the place.

343/MS just sent me a survey about the stupid in game store that I will never spend a single cent on and completely ignore. Not one question about gameplay or features, nope, only about how much I’d being willing to spend on skins. Thats their main priority; microtransactions which I don’t care about, never needed that stuff in previous Halos yet now they seem to think I should. WELL I DON’T, I DON’T CARE ABOUT YOUR TERRIBLE PREMADE PAID SKINS.

What would I pay for? Really nice map packs; how about map packs based on previous Halo maps? Nope, not an option so no monetary transactions are happening nor will they ever because you don’t even give me the option. The first season of this game was based around Reach … where are the Reach maps, where are the Reach weapons? Talk about completely missing the boat. How do you release a game called Infinite when it is so limited in scope? When I first heard the title Halo Infinite I expected a Halo game that would have more weapons and maps than any Halo before it, what an underwhelming moment it was seeing that the Beta was essentially the same exact thing as the initial release. AND NINE MONTHS LATER THE GAME STILL FEELS SOMEWHERE BETWEEN ALPHA AND BETA(!)

I like user (community) customization, you know like Custom Edition, ever heard of it 343? When can we expect that, a proper Halo Editing Kit for Halo Infinite, I’m guessing never because that would allow the user (the customer) to make their own skins and we cannot have that can we. Just more reasons to not spend any cash on this title. A game called Halo INFINITE should have RELEASED with Forge, a Halo Editing Kit, Co-Op, Split-Screen on all platforms (thats called feature parity), Region Select, functional Voice Chat, and at a MINIMUM 25 maps. Hey look its Breaker again for the third time in a row. :face_vomiting:

So they are destroying Halo and for what? In refusing to acknowledge actual requests like split-screen or the red reticle on PC they have sent the message loud and clear; they don’t care about PC gamers so they get 0 dollars. Hopefully the next developers (after 343i is shuttered) actually care about Halo and the fan base not matter which platform you are playing on.

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Dude Elden Ring helped this music artist become top most played and downloaded song … the in the middle of the night song… and we also got LetMeSoloHer as the most legendary player

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Jesus the negativity here is unbearable sometimes. The people on this forum are supposed to represent the core players and that’s scary. I suppose they just shouldn’t even bother releasing Forge :roll_eyes:

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343 has consistently demonstrated that they are unable to deliver a Halo title that is 1.) well received with a majority of fans having favorable sentimentality; 2.) released with all of its core gameplay components intact; and 3.) made by developers who actually care about Halo and made for the enjoyment of the fans who are giving them the feedback they should be implementing.

This is not arbitrary negativity. This is a response to a company that has had over a decade of experience making these games, yet still continues to drop the ball on a regular basis. There’s no excuse for that. This game released as a hollow shell of what it could have been, and nearly a year later, nothing has changed except for minor patches and empty promises.

They launched a pile of garbage. The people who played recognized that and left. And that garbage will remain a stain on those players’ minds every time they are reminded about the prospect of returning to this game.

Do I think Infinite can be redeemed? Absolutely, and I think it’s on the right track. But the problem is the fact that it even exists on that track to begin with. Even if it is redeemed, how many players have been permanently lost? How many people will look back on the launch and refuse to even jump back in because of the lackluster experience?

And on top of all of this, 343 actively acknowledges and refuses to implement the feedback of the few fateful fans who are still dredging through this shallow, incomplete Halo experience. They cant even be bothered to service the only people who are left supporting this game on the grounds that it’s going to get better if they just stick it out for now. This isnt arbitrary negativity. 343 has been fuelling this for a decade.

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And 343 is supposed to represent the name of Halo and THAT’S scary lol.

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I just watch the whole video. There is alot he stated that is really true. Halo Has Always Been A Social Game with Lots of lan parties. Hell I went to lan parties when Halo Combat Evolved Was Out. It was awesome. I agree 343 has to learn what made Halo So Damn Popular. Go back to the roots and halo will be very popular again.

Just my 2 cents

Peace! :fist_right: :fist_left:

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I agree with your projected outcome, but not the process.

I think that Forge will launch half-baked, buggy, and broken; just like the rest of 343’s attempts at making a Halo game. People will see this and just get right back off, simple as that.

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It’s better than the toxic positivity literally everywhere else, because this negativity is based on reality and a pattern of behavior from 343, whereas the positivity from the community is simply a coping mechanism to deal with how bad Infinite actually is.

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I played it myself 2 or 3 times and the forge isn’t buggy at all, either that or i haven’t ran into a single bug, it works pretty well

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Hardy LeBel basically sums up exactly what 343 got wrong with Halo in one sentence: “I wanted to make a party game with shooter mechanics.”

And how much 343 has flushed down the drain in pursuit of a different vision.

Act Man also touts something I’ve been posting on this forum basically since Infinite launched: The challenge system is destroying this game’s ecosystem. You should not be pressured to choose between playing the game with your friends and the game’s only form of progression. And they had the gall to monetize that pressure system on top of it. Cant wait for the harvest, 343. You reap what you sow.

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That is appalling. So many mixed emotions… My blood is boiling at the same time as I’m feeling as though I’m losing a close friend.

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Don’t forget trans-media people to create amazing tv shows lol :facepunch:

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At this point 343 should just release live player numbers.

At least then we can judge when to play. This would be more important outside the US.

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Actually, we still need them to implement offline bot support for all six games in the collection.