Halo 4 had 6x as many pre orders as Halo 5

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

So I’ve been on Vgchartz, exploring the pre order numbers for the Halo games at different times and found some potentially bad news if we assume Halo 5 releases in November 2014.

Halo 4, Week ending 17th December 2011. 196,645 pre orders

Halo 5, Week ending 14th December 2013, 33,370 pre orders

I don’t think this is because of the Xbox One’s install base, as MS have said the one has outsold the 360 by 2 to 1 and the 360 shifted 10 million units by the end of 2006. We can guesstimate that the One will have shifted 20 million by the end of 2014, This is easily a large enough install base by the time Halo 5 launches.

I think its because they haven’t said a word about the game since E3 minus Frankie’s teases in his interviews. Not even a small trailer or anything, after Halo 4 how can people know they have listened or building a multiplayer component that will stand the test of time.

Discuss below.

2

Halo Xbox One (or Halo 5, if you like) probably isn’t coming out until the end of 2014, and as I said when people were freaking out about Halo 4: the majority of sales aren’t going to be reflected in the pre-orders. Hundreds of thousands, and maybe millions, will pre-order. However, these won’t even account for half of the total day-one sales, and millions more will decide to pick the game up on day one, foregoing any pre-order.

We have almost a year left for 343 to talk about Halo XB1, so it’s best to just sit tight and wait for new info.

3

I can’t speak for anyone else, but I did have my pre-order for Halo 4 as soon as it was possible, and I have none, and not real sure if I plan on it for Halo 5.

I do agree that I have some trepidation due to the fact that there doesn’t seem to be much out there in terms of info. Now I will admit that with Halo 4 I kinda checked out pre-release. I wanted to come at it free from any outside influence. I won’t be doing that this time, because the info that I am able to find will help determine the level of purchases I will make for the next Halo 5.

That is not the only factor. I continue to be ever so slightly disappointed with 343i’s handling of Halo 4. I say slightly, because there are some things I have been pleasantly surprised and have enjoyed. Like Race and Rocket Race in general, the TU over the summer, and the fact that BS Angel responded to a PM I sent her on December 25th the very next day! Dang lady don’t you take a vaca?

Anyway, I digress, maybe they are just waiting until the new year. I still have faith…but I am not sure I will be shelling out what I did for Halo 4 and previous Halo’s. Starting with Halo 3, Special Edition game, Halo edition consoles, and strategy guides. We’ll see.

4

The only reason I have not preordered Halo Xbox One is that I may not be on this continent when it is released so…

5

Given that 343i has released very little information about Halo 5, obviously people aren’t going to be jumping to preorder the game.

With that being said, there isn’t much to be concerned of… yet

6

I think 343 should hype their game like Carbine Studios. Their use of humor has gathered a lot of hype surrounding their upcoming MMO.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amMNoxhuHVA#t=47

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJieCQEN5ko

Hyping is thou a two edged sword.

7

> Given that 343i has released very little information about Halo 5, obviously people aren’t going to be jumping to preorder the game.

But what info did we have about Halo 4 in December 2011? As far as I know, at that time, the only Halo 4 info we had was the E3 2011 announcement trailer. If that’s the case, then the amount of info available one year before launch for both games is actually exactly the same.

8

I haven’t preordered yet because I am waiting to see how it looks first. If I see a gameplay video without descoping, I will instantly lose ALOT of faith in 343. I and probably many others are waiting to see if h5 will be like h4. It was very disappointing.

9

I haven’t preordered yet because Halo 4 was a huge, and I mean really huge, dissapointment for me. I won’t give 343 money at all if the multiplayer is still -Yoink-. Will buy it used then for the story. If 343 fails again I hope the game will fail at sales, too.

10

I’m not gonna preorder until a Limited/Legendary Edition is announced.When Halo 5 is confirmed and some gameplay is shown preorders will skyrocket.

11

> > Given that 343i has released very little information about Halo 5, obviously people aren’t going to be jumping to preorder the game.
>
> But what info did we have about Halo 4 in December 2011? As far as I know, at that time, the only Halo 4 info we had was the E3 2011 announcement trailer. If that’s the case, then the amount of info available one year before launch for both games is actually exactly the same.

Well not quite. 343’s has said explicitly that the Halo Xbox One trailer isn’t necessarily indicative of game content. It’s more or less a PR piece equivalent to that Halo 3 trailer with the bubble shield and the salt flat. The Halo 4 trailer, on the other hand, was representative of the first level and set up quite a few major plot points in the game. There’s a lot more meat there than in the Halo 5 piece, which probably reflects the relative lack of interest (as much in any case as pre-orders show). Plus you have a lot more going on now than in 2011 (new systems, and two big new games on the horizon well within Halo’s genre) so, content aside, Halo 5 shouldn’t be expected to have the same presence in the market date for date (assuming too that the game will be coming out late 2014. That’s still a pretty chancy assumption by the way.)

12

The move from generation to generation isn’t a quick one by any means. So far, just over 2 million people have XB1s (as far as the last count says). Back in the days of Halo 4, there were 48 million Gold subscribers (which doesn’t even count Silver and offline players). The point is that it makes absolutely no sense to preorder a game for a console you don’t own. It makes even less sense if you know absolutely nothing about the game, which wasn’t exactly the case with Halo 4 (we don’t even know the name of the next Halo).

The situation isn’t comparable at all, really. You can be sure that, in a few months, when the Halo 5 marketing begins, a lot more preorders will come and a lot more people will either have an XB1 or will plan to have one, which will make preordering more feasible.

13

> > Given that 343i has released very little information about Halo 5, obviously people aren’t going to be jumping to preorder the game.
>
> But what info did we have about Halo 4 in December 2011? As far as I know, at that time, the only Halo 4 info we had was the E3 2011 announcement trailer. If that’s the case, then the amount of info available one year before launch for both games is actually exactly the same.

Actually, there was something significant that we knew about Halo 4 during that time…

We knew the name of the game.

If I go to preorder “Halo Xbox One”, the final game that I just paid $60 for is unknown to me. While it’s obvious that Halo X1 is Halo 5, I’m still not quite sure if I’m buying Halo 5, or if I’m buying a spin off title that has nothing to do with the game that I desire.

Until we get an actual name for the game, I don’t expect preorders to shoot upwards.

Also, Halo 4 was obviously going to have higher preorder rates than Halo 5 because it was the first “main” title in five years.

14

We don’t know enough about the game. At least with Halo 4 we knew the name of the game. You also have to account for the fact that many many many 360’s were sold and available for cheap when Halo 4 was coming out. Same can’t be said about the Xbox One. I’m sure their are tons of less people with XB1’s than 360’s.

15

> > > Given that 343i has released very little information about Halo 5, obviously people aren’t going to be jumping to preorder the game.
> >
> > But what info did we have about Halo 4 in December 2011? As far as I know, at that time, the only Halo 4 info we had was the E3 2011 announcement trailer. If that’s the case, then the amount of info available one year before launch for both games is actually exactly the same.
>
> Actually, there was something significant that we knew about Halo 4 during that time…
>
> We knew the name of the game.
>
> If I go to preorder “Halo Xbox One”, the final game that I just paid $60 for is unknown to me. While it’s obvious that Halo X1 is Halo 5, I’m still not quite sure if I’m buying Halo 5, or if I’m buying a spin off title that has nothing to do with the game that I desire.
>
> Until we get an actual name for the game, I don’t expect preorders to shoot upwards.
>
> Also, Halo 4 was obviously going to have higher preorder rates than Halo 5 because it was the first “main” title in five years.

Not to mention that MC and Cortana were coming back after the great sequel(most people I have talked to, I personally think it is meh…). Also, next thing you know, Halo Xbox One isn’t Halo 5, and isn’t a FPS. To add to this, I must say that Halo 4 CRIPPLED the population further for many reasons and the fact that it was overshadowed by other games… I find that another reason is because people are upset with Halo 4… like others have said, I’m sure that if they show the gameplay, the preorders will skyrocket!(if they make right what was wrong…)

For further explanation on why it crippled the population…
No Elites, perks, loadouts, Infinity, Ordanance, lack of custom games settings, sprint, less weapons, Forge having no improvement that was apparently good?., missing gametypes, broken weapons at start…really all the problems it had at start and other competition coming out at the same time really decimated the population.
I know some people who don’t even know that Halo Xbox One even existed!

In truth, 343’s dedication to fixing the game’s problems has made it even better. But I feel that people just don’t trust them…I’ve taken way too many polls concerning it. In my eyes Halo 4 was great, it being my first ONLINE game, just others don’t see it the same way!
Other reasons for less preordering may be the not worldwide release…of the Xbox One, the expensive nature of the console, and other reasons which I may not know…

16

It’s still too early to determine anything. Being that there’s no official details released other than the 60fps & Dedicated servers and a E3 trailer, having 33k preorders is impressive. I wouldn’t pay the full $60 though if I was preordering this early however. That just seems like a bad investment. We need to see what 343 has improved upon from their experience with Halo 4. I’m also holding out to see if they’re going to do a proper Limited Edition before I put down a preorder.

17

I didn’t preorder my copy of Halo 4 until they released the preorder bonuses for each retailer. And even then, I was still confused. I had no idea that preordering at some places would get you a unique helmet while others were only a skin, not the armor itself. I hope 343i is more descriptive this time around.

This time, I’m also waiting to see what direction Halo Xbox One is going to go in. If it continues in Halo 4’s direction multiplayer-wise, I’ll probably just rent it on GameFly and beat the campaign. $60 is way too much to spend for only 8 hours of play time.

18

I think most people haven’t pre-ordered right now because they are waiting on the different editions of the game to be announced.

19

> The move from generation to generation isn’t a quick one by any means. So far, just over 2 million people have XB1s (as far as the last count says). Back in the days of Halo 4, there were 48 million Gold subscribers (which doesn’t even count Silver and offline players). The point is that it makes absolutely no sense to preorder a game for a console you don’t own. It makes even less sense if you know absolutely nothing about the game, which wasn’t exactly the case with Halo 4 (we don’t even know the name of the next Halo).
>
> The situation isn’t comparable at all, really. You can be sure that, in a few months, when the Halo 5 marketing begins, a lot more preorders will come and a lot more people will either have an XB1 or will plan to have one, which will make preordering more feasible.

This^^^ I don’t own a XB1 so I’m not going to order a game for something I don’t have… Maaaybee after some XB1 hardware revisions or when the final Halo game gets released so that I have all these games to occupy myself with.

20

Few things:

1- Not many people know Halo 5 is being developed. We know a Halo game is going to be on the new console, but we don’t know the name nor its official release date.

2- Nothing has really been added to hype the game up for pre-order sales. No news, no information, no nothing except an Xbox Live avatar thing of John in a coat. If there were information, they’re in a site no one outside of hardcore enthusiasts will go to.

3- Compared to Xbox 360s, hardly anyone have an XB1 at this time. Why should I pre-order a game for a console I don’t have, or even be reluctant to buy given that the previous console had really bad issues in its beginning( Remember this? I sure did at one point…)

Halo 4 didn’t get alot of information either at the beginning, and thus no big numbers in the pre-order business. When the information started rolling, so did the pre-order numbers.

It’s too early to call gloom and doom, especially when we don’t even have an official name to ask the retail clerk to put money down on, or even have the majority of Xbox 360 players moving on to the new console.