I get the whole F2P trend as its very lucrative for companies but for the way the did it in Halo was just terrible. It has alienated all gamers in terms of long time players, PC players, and just general functionality.
What they should have done was release Warzone/Dominion as F2P and left multiplayer the way it was in every other Halo title bundled with the campaign but raise the price a little as costs of making a game have definitely gone up with inflation.
With the Warzone/Dominion being free to play have the store you had at launch for that part of the game as that is the standard for F2P games. Leave the regular campaign/multiplayer to have their own customization system that is earned through skill/achievements not money.
Multiplayer should have released with 4 modes.
- Slayer Ranked and Social
- Arena (objective games) ranked and social
- FFA ranked and social
- BTB ranked and Social
Thats the only 4 game types really needed to be there and functioning appropriately at launch. Later on adding snipers, swat, and other fun game modes but they can take more time to add those if the core 4 modes mentioned above are there and working properly. It was crazy to see they released it without Team Slayer.
I really feel if they had done it that way most people would not be mad at them as much or leaving the game in droves or just straight up skipping this halo all together. I really hope they fix it but honestly think they have to go the direction they are going and the game will improve but still have these core problems. I’ll wait patiently for the next Halo hoping it is done better.
Not to be all negative with this post so the bright side is MCC is working well now and its really enjoyable to be playing 3 and reach again. Everyone should really consider going back there and enjoying Halo maybe the Devs will notice what we gamers truly enjoy and right the ship for the next Halo game.
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I’m not sure they’d even have to raise the price honestly. While inflation has occured, the number of gamers have risen. In the first week Halo 5 made 400 million. With including the PC audience there is no reason Halo Infinite couldn’t have made much more than that at launch. And if there were to so what you said with Warzone being F2P they would have gained sales there too. It’s not at all unreasonable to assume they would have profited massively off a $60 launch.
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I like this idea a lot. Imagine if they made a more expansion warzone experience as the free to play experience. Big mode with a lot of people. Put it solos,duos,trios, and quads and bam. You got something that people can play without hindering the rest of Halo.
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Well written post, op. I do have to say though… the F2P model is not the reason for the game not having core Halo game modes. The game is just unfinished.
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I’m going to say something that might trigger a lot of people on here.
Infinite cannot just be a slightly better version of Halo 3 and expect to be remotely popular any longer. There is way more competition and like 95% of the people that played Halo in its heyday are either not playing games or they’ve moved on to different platforms or different genres completely.
I love this idea that if Infinite just has 4v4, 12v12 and a classic playlist it’ll be enough, but unfortunately it needs like a dozen modes/gametypes that are not here currently, and it needs lots of foundational improvements both for MP and its SP.
Halo 5 had a massively successful launch. Say what you want about the game, but it made a ton of money. They could have made money off of Infinite without resorting to the tactics they did. If they delivered a better game than Halo 5 and released it to PC and Xbox, there is no reason it couldn’t have been successful.
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I think it just depends on if they had put resources into making sure they release a quality product. Not sure many would be happy about spending $100 on a Halo with such unfinished and lack of features.
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What did I just say? Yes it would’ve made a lot of money at launch, but would’ve struggled surviving more than 1-2 years post launch. Too much competition for paid games (especially shooters) to be relevant for long nowadays.
You never mentioned a timeframe in your previous post. Also, I’m curious, what do you think Infinite is offering as far as F2P games go that will keep it relevant for that long? To me, the only thing it offers is the appeal to fans of Halo. Without that, I fail to see what it does different or better than other F2P games.
Also, with continual updates to the campaign via campaign passes, could that not have helped keep the game relevant for longer without going free to play? We do have evidence to suggest there will be multiple campaigns. See June’s Inside Infinite article which references “Campaign passes”.
Honestly, the main reason to me that it went F2P wasn’t necessarily about money, but to open the game up and bring in new audiences. Let’s face it, us old guard Halo players are aging out. A lot of us are pushing into our 30’s now, don’t play as often as we once did, if at all any more. The series needed a fresh start to survive.
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How dare you remind me of my age. I want to pretend I’m young for at least a little longer.
I get it, a fresh start does make sense. Its still hard to reconcile how gaming used to be with what it is though. I get sometimes things need to change, but some of the changes feel like they make the product worse. And that’s hard to accept, even if other people want it.
Well currently its not offering much at all, which is why I said it needs to offer more. It can only go up from here.
Another thing that I don’t think is really appreciated very much by fans is that there are now many new Halo fans that (despite being disappointing to us) are still blown away by it. Halo magic if you would.
I don’t really think so no. The benefits of a F2P game offering DLC is far greater (business wise) than a paid one offering it. Destiny 2 is an obvious example. Its more meaningful because it means that the DLC can reach more people. Another important aspect of this is whether or not they’ll make any expansions available via Gamepass or lock it behind paywall.