Halo 4's Online died for many reasons.

Games Other Halo
1

Edited by Moderator - Please do not post flamebait.

*Original post. Click at your own discretion.

Everyone seems to be barking mad when it comes to Halo 4 and claim all kind of ideas for why Halo 4’s online population has dwindled so pathetically. Is it sprint (why the hell would sprint hurt Halo when it has not even dented the popularity of literally every other FPS in existence), is it the lack of the dynamic rank from Halo 3 (not only did Reach do well without this system, everyone hated Halo 3’s ranking system back in the day) or is it that Halo has simply become too Call of Duty (a fair comparison to make, but let’s be honest, titles like Battlefield have been influenced by Call of Duty and continue to do excellently)?

People seem to be missing the much more obvious, and less interesting reasons, why Halo 4 has failed online.

The gaming atmosphere is not the same today as it was when Halo was at it’s height in the Halo 2 to Halo 3 period. Back in the days of Halo 2, Halo completely dominated Xbox Live. There was absolutely no game on Xbox that could compete with Halo 2 for online multiplayer. There’s a reason why Halo 2 is often acknowledged for launching Xbox Live as we know it today.

As for Halo 3, competition started to rise but it was in its infancy. A small game called Call Of Duty 4 was starting to gain popularity, ironically as somewhat of an underdog compared to Halo. Yet Halo had the supreme advantage over COD as the game was coming off the back of the legendary Halo 2.

For all intents and purposes, Halo 3 was basically Halo 2 for the 360. The two games are incredibly similar and are virtually no different. There was a very good reason for this decision: Bungie knew that Halo 2 was the de facto console online FPS. It had no challengers and Bungie could hold onto their crown triumphantly.

Enter Halo Reach…the gaming market is no longer a resemblance of what it used to be. Call of Duty is now dominating FPS, not only on both consoles, but even on PC. You also have the competition from Battlefield, who have started to seriously gain a foothold into the console market (they have been in the PC market for years). In this light, Halo is now the underdog. The tables have completely changed.

However, Halo still has two factors going in it’s favour. One: it’s confirmed to be the last Halo game by Bungie. Two: It can channel the good memory of the times when Halo dominated Xbox.

To say Halo Reach was unpopular would be an understatement. Despite Bungie’s statements that it is the game they are most proud of, the game is very unfocused and has no idea what it wants to be.

In certain ways, Reach was trying to emulate the classic Halo experience and play on nostalgia. However, Bungie realised that they had to bring the series forward, which proved a very dangerous move. The Armour Abilities were baffling. Even Call of Duty has no resemblance to the likes of Armour Lock or Active Camo. Also enter some very questionable decisions like the quit ban (which probably single-handedly destroyed a major chunk of the population) and a COD leveling up system that was meaningless and both failed to offer the COD charm of leveling and the charm of Halo’s trueskill.

Bungie clearly wanted to move in a direction more like Call of Duty but feared it. Look at Destiny, which even has sight aiming that is VERY similar to Call of Duty. However, Bungie knew they could not make Halo like Call of Duty because the fanbase would devour their souls.

Enter 343, who have never worked on a Halo game when they started development on Halo 4. They see what Bungie tried, but didn’t dare do, and went completely in that direction.

Anyone who denies the heavy COD influence in Halo 4 is deluding themselves.

However, imitating the competition isn’t going to cut it. Halo worked so well in the past because it was akin to COD in that it reigned supreme. Time has moved on, we don’t live in 2005 anymore. FPS’s have also moved on.

Halo 4 failed to move the Halo series in any interesting direction (at least in multiplayer) and also failed to imitate the Call of Duty charm.

The simple reason why Halo 4’s multiplayer failed is because there are better online games out there: Call of Duty and Battlefield.

And yes, I said that and will stick with that statement. Call of Duty is better online than Halo 4.

2

the market no longer mass demands arena shooters like it used too… the majority prefer COD/Battlefield etc… so halo does have to adapt or die…we can say 'oh, if it was still like halo 2/3 it would still be huge… but would it? the market’s evolved during halo 3, which is why reach was so different… so it doesnt make much of a difference really, halo’s had its time IMO

3

> The simple reason why Halo 4’s multiplayer failed is because there are better online games out there: Call of Duty and Battlefield.
>
> And yes, I said that and will stick with that statement. Call of Duty is better online than Halo 4.

I disagree. COD has one of the worst multiplayer there is. Its just a copy and paste each year just with worse maps and even more ridicules concepts. Even the professional COD players think its trash in comparison to the past games. Personally I can’t stand Battlefield, the maps are to big and it can be incredibly frustrating. Its all personal preference. There is no “best multiplayer”.

4

I can see that ordnance and armor mods are a swing at being like COD but I don’t see any connection between Halo 4’s load outs and COD’s load outs.

I’ve never touched COD but from what I’ve heard in COD you can spawn with any weapon you want. That doesn’t sound anything like Halo 4.

5

> Everyone seems to be barking mad when it comes to Halo 4 and claim all kind of ideas for why Halo 4’s online population has dwindled so pathetically. Is it sprint (why the hell would sprint hurt Halo when it has not even dented the popularity of literally every other FPS in existence)

Why the hell would tomatoes not sell well on chocolate cake, when they do so well on pizza?

> is it the lack of the dynamic rank from Halo 3 (not only did Reach do well without this system, everyone hated Halo 3’s ranking system back in the day)

… Please tell me you didn’t mean to say that?

> or is it that Halo has simply become too Call of Duty (a fair comparison to make, but let’s be honest, titles like Battlefield have been influenced by Call of Duty and continue to do excellently)?

So you’ve discovered that tomatoes are also popular on sandwiches. Still not popular on chocolate cake though…

Why is that? How could it possibly be that some things do not work with everything?

> The gaming atmosphere is not the same today as it was when Halo was at it’s height in the Halo 2 to Halo 3 period. Back in the days of Halo 2, Halo completely dominated Xbox Live. There was absolutely no game on Xbox that could compete with Halo 2 for online multiplayer. There’s a reason why Halo 2 is often acknowledged for launching Xbox Live as we know it today.

So… You’re saying that Halo 4 is not as popular as Halo was, because Halo 2 was popular?

> As for Halo 3, competition started to rise but it was in its infancy. A small game called Call Of Duty 4 was starting to gain popularity, ironically as somewhat of an underdog compared to Halo. Yet Halo had the supreme advantage over COD as the game was coming off the back of the legendary Halo 2.

That does something to account for Halo 3’s initial sales, but now you have to explain how it maintained such impressively healthy online numbers. Is that down to Halo 2 as well? Or could it be that fans enjoyed Halo 3?

> For all intents and purposes, Halo 3 was basically Halo 2 for the 360. The two games are incredibly similar and are virtually no different. There was a very good reason for this decision: Bungie knew that Halo 2 was the de facto console online FPS. It had no challengers and Bungie could hold onto their crown triumphantly.

Well, it was similar at the core (as it should have been), but beyond that, Halo 3 isn’t “basically Halo 2”.

> The simple reason why Halo 4’s multiplayer failed is because there are better online games out there: Call of Duty and Battlefield.

“Better online games” is entirely subjective. Halo 4 hasn’t failed because it isn’t imitating Call of Duty well enough, it has failed because it tried to.
When you use the pulling power of the title of an established game franchise which is known for gameplay X, then you replace gameplay X with gameplay Y; the people who were attracted by the title (because of its association with gameplay X) are generally going to be disappointed when they get gameplay Y.
It’s certainly not because they wanted gameplay Y but didn’t get a good enough version of it.

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But it’s not dead.

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Halo and CoD have two distinct FPS gameplay styles, and it is possible for the two styles to coexist (they did for several years). The reason Halo failed is because it tried to copy some CoD-esque gameplay mechanics such as sprint, custom loadouts, and randomness brought on by killstreaks/PODs, and those mechanics are better suited to and done better by those types of games, such as CoD, Battlefield, etc.

Halo had a particular gameplay style and an existing large fanbase. It doesn’t need to copy “modern” gameplay mechanics in order to be popular, as the game as it was was already popular. It doesn’t necessarily need to try to reach out to other types of gamers, as it already has a large, solid fanbase. With its “hybrid” style of gameplay, Halo 4 lost more existing players than it gained in new players, so if Halo is going to continue down this route, it’s going to have to start over as far as population and fanbase is concerned.

8

Sigh. Let’s blame everything except for the game itself.

This post completely ignores that Halo 4 abandoned on map weapon spawns.

It abandoned any semblance of equal starts.

It continued the armor abilities that were the primary “innovation” from a game that the OP asserts was unpopular despite selling more copies and having a healthier population than the game he is defending.

It gutted vehicle play.

Why is there this refusal to acknowledge that the game has sold nearly 10 million copies but is still failing to maintain a solid population? Why is there this refusal to acknowledge that 10 million people bought Halo 4 with expectations based on the product of earlier franchise installments but were not purchasing the product they would reasonably expect?

Yes, the market has shifted. But come on, the 2013 shooters haven’t even dropped yet and Halo barely has a pulse. In my mind this is CLEARLY an issue of the actual product being unappealing.

9

Halo 4’s online died because of its unfocused gameplay and general inability to figure out how to make the community happy with what everyone’s doing.

It’ll still be “alive” in the sense that it’ll have its fandom, but Halo doesn’t look like it’ll be going past Call of Duty any time soon.

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> the market no longer mass demands arena shooters ON CONSOLES like it used too… the majority prefer COD/Battlefield etc… so halo does have to adapt or die…we can say 'oh, if it was still like halo 2/3 it would still be huge… but would it? the market’s evolved during halo 3, which is why reach was so different… so it doesnt make much of a difference really, halo’s had its time IMO

Fixed

11

Halo 4 only superficially resembles the first three games in the series. It simply isn’t as good of a game anymore.

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Many of the things you guys said. However, number one is lag / connection / black screens. This takes away population regardless of what ANYONE wants the game to be like.

How many of your friends quit b/c of unplayable lag / host connections? 6 of mine did out of the 7 (that guy and me still play).

It is about an even split of how they feel about sprint, loadouts, etc… but ALL can’t bare the lag. And it’s the thing that is slowly chipping away at me as well. I just wanna play a clean game of Halo. I have a great connection here, Comcasts fastest package, which makes all of my PC / xbox games lag free online… except for this one.

Halo 4 would still be number 1 for me even with it’s faults (all listed above by you guys) if I could just simply play it online without technical issues.

13

We all have opinions on why Halo has dwindled in population and popularity. Mine is that Halo 4 was unfocused and was made by a team that had not worked together for long and was just rushing to create a video game for people to enjoy. I think that Halo 5 will be much better simply because it will have a more unified vision.

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> Sigh. Let’s blame everything except for the game itself.
>
> This post completely ignores that Halo 4 abandoned on map weapon spawns.
>
> It abandoned any semblance of equal starts.
>
> It continued the armor abilities that were the primary “innovation” from a game that the OP asserts was unpopular despite selling more copies and having a healthier population than the game he is defending.
>
> It gutted vehicle play.
>
> Why is there this refusal to acknowledge that the game has sold nearly 10 million copies but is still failing to maintain a solid population? Why is there this refusal to acknowledge that 10 million people bought Halo 4 with expectations based on the product of earlier franchise installments but were not purchasing the product they would reasonably expect?
>
> Yes, the market has shifted. But come on, the 2013 shooters haven’t even dropped yet and Halo barely has a pulse. In my mind this is CLEARLY an issue of the actual product being unappealing.

Totally agree. I went back to Reach for my Halo fix because vehicles aren’t burning wreckage, tactics matter, we start off equal and we don’t have everyone carrying some stupid heavy or long range air dropped weapon.

The only thing I would add is the Lag from day one (with 400,000+ online), which was due to abysmal host selection and lack of regional filters. No other game I play multiplayer lags as badly or consistently (70% of the time 0.5+ seconds) as H4 does. Reach, Sonic, COD II and other titles never lag like H4 does. I firmly believe that is a major contributor to why they lost almost 50% of the population / 180,000 multiplayer people in the first week.

People I chat with when playing Reach or H3 that own H4 simply say “It isn’t Halo” when I asked why they switched back to Reach or H3.

15

I consider Halo 4 to be the best recent FPS. Battlefield maps are huge, but like they should be even bigger to play out like it does. Like a military simulator. COD is out of the question.

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> Why is there this refusal to acknowledge that the game has sold nearly 10 million copies but is still failing to maintain a solid population? Why is there this refusal to acknowledge that 10 million people bought Halo 4 with expectations based on the product of earlier franchise installments but were not purchasing the product they would reasonably expect?

Personally, when I see someone actively blame everything apart from the game itself, I get the impression that they don’t want to believe the franchise they love is not the unstoppable, popular and loved franchise it once was.
This was me during the first month of Halo 4, and I made every excuse for the game too, but only because I was so incredibly hyped for the game that I didn’t want to believe that a main Halo title could fail.
Fortunately, I can’t fool myself for long, and I came around.

It’s quite ironic because the “you’re too nostalgic” finger is often pointed at Halo fans who dislike Halo 4, but I believe that too much nostalgia is leading people to convince themselves that the game is perfect and that anyone who disagrees is wrong and scared of change. Because they don’t want memories of a great time in their life to be tainted by eventual failure and misery for the franchise.

Now I’m not saying this is definitely what other people are doing, but I personally believe it may be what a lot of people are doing when they make excuses for Halo 4.
The very likely possibility that Halo 4, for the most part, was too unfamiliar and undesired by the general fan base is often avoided at ALL costs in favour of anything that puts the blame outside the game itself. For me, that’s highly suspicious.

17

> Many of the things you guys said. However, number one is lag / connection / black screens. This takes away population regardless of what ANYONE wants the game to be like.

I disagree. If you do a Google search on why Halo 4 sucks/is bad/etc., almost all of the posts will cite some type of gameplay/setting change as a reason, and almost no one will cite lag or black screens as a reason.

I’m not saying lag isn’t a problem; it is. But seriously, Google it and see for yourself.

18

> I can see that ordnance and armor mods are a swing at being like COD but I don’t see any connection between Halo 4’s load outs and COD’s load outs.
>
> I’ve never touched COD but from what I’ve heard in COD you can spawn with any weapon you want. That doesn’t sound anything like Halo 4.

why are you even adding your opinion because it’s totally wrong and you said you haven’t even played COD lol. Loadouts are extremely similar in COD, but done much much better.

19

> > I can see that ordnance and armor mods are a swing at being like COD but I don’t see any connection between Halo 4’s load outs and COD’s load outs.
> >
> > I’ve never touched COD but from what I’ve heard in COD you can spawn with any weapon you want. That doesn’t sound anything like Halo 4.
>
> why are you even adding your opinion because it’s totally wrong and you said you haven’t even played COD lol. Loadouts are extremely similar in COD, but done much much better.

I agree with you to a cERTAIN EXTENT…

Too many people here make arguements defending somehing they have never done themselves…(I.E say cods suck but never playing it before or Saying that active camo is not a problem and not ever using it or get killed by someone using it)

20

> the market no longer mass demands arena shooters like it used too… the majority prefer COD/Battlefield etc… so halo does have to adapt or die…we can say 'oh, if it was still like halo 2/3 it would still be huge… but would it? the market’s evolved during halo 3, which is why reach was so different… so it doesnt make much of a difference really, halo’s had its time IMO

Halo 4 sold 8 mil People wanted a Halo game but got a something else.

People left for a reason. Halo 4 is a bad Halo game and its a bad COD rip off. In other words Halo 4 is not an arena shooter at its core or a good loadout shooter.