This is something I was pondering while bored at work last night. I could see Halo being a subscription service. This was sparked after I started thinking about the quote from one of the Bungie guys that was probably taken way out of context. But he said something along of the lines of “Wasn’t Halo great? Now wouldn’t it be great if a world like that was always there for you?” when asked about Bungie’s next game. This was implying that their next game would be subscription based.
What if the initial game cost about $30-40, and shipped with the campaign, the initial Spartan Ops missions, and maybe 2-3 multiplayer playlists and a handful of the maps.
Now for $5 a month, you’ll have access to all Spartan Ops missions ever released, any possible campaign related DLC, and the rest of the multiplayer.
In addition, you are given a promise that the multiplayer will be well maintained with balance changes, new maps, and new gametypes/playlists.
For your subscription, they could say:
– At least 2 new multiplayer maps each month
– At least 1 new Spartan Ops mission each month (could change depending on breadth and length of the missions. Might be 2-3 per month if they are just 10 minute affairs)
– A new story related DLC every 3-4 months that will be about the length of a normal campaign mission
– Exclusive tournaments or events that subscribers can participate in. They will be well organized and ran. Each month, there could be a new competitive tournament to participate in over 3-5 days.
You would be paying $60 a year for the service. So in the end, 343i will have made about $150 (2 years + $30 initial disc purchase) off us by the time Halo 5 might arrive. We in turn are paying for the promise of a maintained experience.
This was just a thought. What do you guys think? Have any modifications or suggestions for anything else we should get in return? Or is this whole idea crazy and something you have no interest in?
I personally don’t know how it would rub me, but I think I would be open to something like this, as long as the promise of return was there.
If Halo moves to a Subscription services, or even a “Yearly Pass” beyond the cost to be on XBox LIVE, then my Halo days are done. I’m not absorbing another cost.
I already pay for LIVE every month, and I buy DLC for the games I really like, why the hell should I pay another cost to play the “Elite” service or get locked out of content for the game?
After paying all of that and $60 for the game itself, what possibly could they offer to make me want to pay for any additional services?
No.
If there is a Subscription or “Yearly Pass” that gets implemented into Halo, then I’m just done with Halo. End of story.
I pay $60 a year to play Xbox LIVE, $60 per game at launch, I’m not going to pay extra just to play MP. 343i is owned by Microsoft, and Microsoft already has a “subscription” that’s called Xbox LIVE.
Making Halo into a subscription service would be the stupidest thing that they could do. There is no way that I would pay extra for content that has always been there for free. No way. Not happening. Not ever.
And I pray that it doesn’t You shoot out at least 60$ a year for xbox live alone, you shoot out about 60$ for the game…then you want us to pay just to Play it online even though we have a gold membership O.o???
Pay for the console.
Pay for Gold.
Pay for the game.
Pay for DLC.
Now we should pay a game-specific subscription too? If this goes any further, we’ll be swiping credit cards to refill ammunition.
This may not be the case, but if you look at ipad/iphone games, certain xbox games and ps3 games you can earn points to buy in game items, maps, perks, unlocks with real world money. It would not a big surprise if you can actually buy your way to the top in Halo 4. Earn spartan point or buy 500 for 5.00 bucks, 1000 for 10, 5000 for 20, and 100,000 for 99.99, be prepared this is the wave of the future.
> This may not be the case, but if you look at ipad/iphone games, certain xbox games and ps3 games you can earn points to buy in game items, maps, perks, unlocks with real world money. It would not a big surprise if you can actually buy your way to the top in Halo 4. Earn spartan point or buy 500 for 5.00 bucks, 1000 for 10, 5000 for 20, and 100,000 for 99.99, be prepared this is the wave of the future.
No studio worth a grain of salt would make stuff that does have an effect on multiplayer be purchasable, at least when it comes down to Player vs Player multiplayer.
Throw something like that in Halo and not many people would play that game for long. It’s not a successful marketing strategy for the long term. With 343i wanting to make another TRILOGY out of one of Microsoft’s flagship games, it would be stupid to even consider such a move if they expect people to come back for the next two Halos.
It’s not the future. If it is, it’s a grim one for the developers that thought its a good idea.
To answer the question from the topic: No. I do NOT want to pay for something that is already free in the past. I do NOT want to pay more for something I practically paid $120 to get to play this game. Making a subscription in a subscription does not go well, especially if the game was on a console where dealing content is spread so far out.
> This would never happen.
>
> And how did you get ‘subscription service’ from ‘Halo should be there for you all the time’…?
>
> You didn’t jump to conclusions. <mark>You drove half way across the continent to that conclusion…</mark>
What this guy said.
Also, why would you want to pay more money for what you are already getting for free?
