Lot of people on the forums here are saying Halo 4 is dying already since population not as in prior Halo games. To them I have say: calm down.
Lets look at the past Halo games online, Halo 2, Halo 3, Reach (which I also include as Aniv Edition), and Halo 4. ODST not including or Wars. Both fun yes, but for discussion not using.
So we have 4 Halo games that have been on Xbox Live. But are people taking into account when they were out? I do not think so. I was a beta tester for Live 10+ years ago, so I have first hand experience of what Live is about.
Halo 2 came out when console gaming was still something people did not do much. You had Ghost Recon, NFL Fever, Rainbow 6, Whacked, Moto GP, NHL/NBA2k, just to name few of the big games at the time. So of course Halo 2 was going to have a massive population. Choices not plentiful.
Halo 3 came out when shooters were still iffy online. Shadowrun was a massive game for a short time. Which is a shame, that game I still consider the best shooter on Live for game balance, skill, game knowledge, team work, understanding weapons, map design, etc. That game was simply amazing. Then came along Halo 3, I want to say a month or 2 later. Shadowrun took a massive dip in population. But people still play today, myself included.
Reach came out and not really that great of a game. Armor Lock was a joke and broke all the gameplay. Theater mode was a joke. Map design a roar of laughter. Maps were so bad that Bungie just threw Forge maps into playlists to make up for it. The poor effort I say was Bungie “phoned” it in to get out of contract.
Maybe they did this out of knowing the Live landscape is radically different then when Halo 3 first hit. Look at the choices today versus the launch of Live. Madden, Forza, COD (which is rubbish), NHL, NBA, Battlefield, Minecraft, Skyrim, Borderlands, Assassin’s Creed, and on, and on, and on.
Way too many choices. And people bounce back and forth, too.
All that matters is that playlists maintain the population they have now. That means people are still coming and going. This is not a bad thing people.
Take a deep breath. Look at the whole picture. Halo 4 is awesome. Halo 4 is not going anywhere.
Well . . . unless 343i starts to tinker with the gameplay mechanics. This would ruin the game in a heartbeat.
Hopefully, they are smart enough to know this.