We are Halo fans. We want Halo to be the best. Then don’t we want Halo to be the #1 played game on Xbox Live? Don’t we want it to be the game everyone talks about and everyone plays? Don’t we want the online player population to be sustained up until the next Halo release? Don’t we? Then how does the population count not matter?
As long as Call of Duty is popular, Halo will never be #1 on Xbox because it’s not a shooter as easy to pick up and play. Call of Duty is incredibly easy, but gives people the illusion they’re skilled and hardcore combined the constant reward spamming abusing dopamine. A legitimate, true game of depth like Halo can’t compete with that because CoD is something that attracts non-gamers as well.
These are the same reasons Halo 5’s population will drop as soon as the next CoD is released, but lesser so since people who bought the game to begin with are more likely to return every now and then.
Honestly, while I’m against dumbing down the game to make it easier to play (tightening the skill gap), I think if Halo 5 wants to use some of the magic CoD uses to get people hooked, Halo 5 should definitely be reward-spamming with metals, feedback from shooting, and other things. I don’t see why adding these gratification factors is a bad thing at all, since it leaves the gameplay intact, and makes you (and new players who would otherwise feel overwhelmed) feel good while playing regardless if you’re doing terrible.
Like TodayFob said above, Halo will never be #1 as long as CoD, FIFA and big multi platform game such as Destiny and Star Wars Battlefront are out.
There’s too many games that release during the holiday season for it to keep a stable population. There’s always that hardcore fanbase that will play it, but the majority of people that buy halo are going to be “casuals”. Just think about the amount of people on this forum, and compare that to the amount of people that buy the game. The difference is pretty substantial.
Plus the devs are trying to push Halo to be a team game when most people that play want to be lonewolves. That’s why COD can be successful because it doesn’t require you to play as a team. You can join in a match of TDM and be completely unreliant on others to have a good match, or have a positive K/D, a little thing people seem to care about over everything else.
I don’t care who else likes Halo 4. I like it. A lot. And I still play it all the time. I don’t need a big player base in order to get a good match, and I don’t need one in order to validate my (extremely positive) opinion of the game.
Yes, population has implications for the continued existence of the franchise, and yes, I would like to see it continue. But in my opinion Halo 4 doesn’t even come close to MCC in terms of tarnishing the franchise, and, even after the tragic launch and subsequent gutting of MCC, Halo 5 will still have a great launch and be purchased by millions. Will those millions continue to play it years after launch? Who cares? Just enjoy whatever parts of it you enjoy, and for as long as you can without getting bored or offended, and then move on to something else. It’s a video game. It isn’t life and death.
@ Fob
Do people not read mah comments?? Halo 3 rofl stomped CoD for 3 years. Why couldn’t Reach and 4 do that?
> SOURCE and some Google searches. Don’t like it? Do your own research.
>
> It is, however, an erroneous assumption that Halo never had any competition. It is erroneous when you consider the FPS was usually perceived as a PC only affair in 2001. It is erroneous when you consider that the console market was dominated by the PS2 from 1999-06, and remains the most successful home console in history 9 years after it’s end (technically only 2, when you consider it’s official discontinue date in January 2013)
>
> So no CE and 2 were not devoid of competition because Xbox as a brand was not devoid of competition.
>
> Now what about the 360? If Halo 3 qualifies as a game that pertains to the classic Halo formula, then I’m afraid Halo 4’s lack of players is still a glaring problem. Halo 3 maintained a near constant population from September 2007 - (conservatively) 2009, a period in which it would have (conservatively) competed with AAA multiplayer titles such as:
> - Team Fortress 2- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare- Unreal Tournament 3- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow 6: Vegas 2- Battlefield: Bad Company- Left 4 Dead- Call of Duty: World at War- Borderlands- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2- Left 4 Dead 2This is not counting Singleplayer FPS’ that released during this interval, games that were released briefly before Halo 3 but retained online population, games that were released on a different system, a whole slew of AA FPS games that could have whittled at Halo 3’s population the way they did at Halo Reach/4, or the better part of the year 2010, where Halo 3 saw a drop off but still maintained steady population until the release of Halo: Reach.
>
> By the same parameters, Reach (Sept 2010 - 2012) would have had to compete with:
> - Medal of Honor- Call of Duty: Black Ops- Crysis 2- Dead Island- Battlefield 3- Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3- Syndicate- Call of Duty Black Ops 2- Medal of Honor WarfighterHalo 4:
> - Syndicate- Call of Duty Black Ops 2- Medal of Honor WarfighterThen it basically died that same year in comparison to the other two.
>
> I spent more time then I probably should have finding all this data. Don’t believe me? Check it out for yourself. I agree that Halo 4 haters may blow their dislike out of proportion, but it’s important to remember it didn’t do that well, and aside from BlOps2, none of those games it competed with in its prime were particularly earth shattering.
Low population also indicates that people don’t like the game.
> 2535421619942348;6:
> @ Fob
>
> Do people not read mah comments?? Halo 3 rofl stomped CoD for 3 years. Why couldn’t Reach and 4 do that?
>
>
> > SOURCE and some Google searches. Don’t like it? Do your own research.
> >
> > It is, however, an erroneous assumption that Halo never had any competition. It is erroneous when you consider the FPS was usually perceived as a PC only affair in 2001. It is erroneous when you consider that the console market was dominated by the PS2 from 1999-06, and remains the most successful home console in history 9 years after it’s end (technically only 2, when you consider it’s official discontinue date in January 2013)
> >
> > So no CE and 2 were not devoid of competition because Xbox as a brand was not devoid of competition.
> >
> > Now what about the 360? If Halo 3 qualifies as a game that pertains to the classic Halo formula, then I’m afraid Halo 4’s lack of players is still a glaring problem. Halo 3 maintained a near constant population from September 2007 - (conservatively) 2009, a period in which it would have (conservatively) competed with AAA multiplayer titles such as:
> > - Team Fortress 2
> > - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
> > - Unreal Tournament 3
> > - Tom Clancy’s Rainbow 6: Vegas 2
> > - Battlefield: Bad Company
> > - Left 4 Dead
> > - Call of Duty: World at War
> > - Borderlands
> > - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
> > - Left 4 Dead 2
> > This is not counting Singleplayer FPS’ that released during this interval, games that were released briefly before Halo 3 but retained online population, games that were released on a different system, a whole slew of AA FPS games that could have whittled at Halo 3’s population the way they did at Halo Reach/4, or the better part of the year 2010, where Halo 3 saw a drop off but still maintained steady population until the release of Halo: Reach.
> >
> > By the same parameters, Reach (Sept 2010 - 2012) would have had to compete with:
> > - Medal of Honor
> > - Call of Duty: Black Ops
> > - Crysis 2
> > - Dead Island
> > - Battlefield 3
> > - Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3
> > - Syndicate
> > - Call of Duty Black Ops 2
> > - Medal of Honor Warfighter
> > Halo 4:
> > - Syndicate
> > - Call of Duty Black Ops 2
> > - Medal of Honor Warfighter
> > Then it basically died that same year in comparison to the other two.
> >
> > I spent more time then I probably should have finding all this data. Don’t believe me? Check it out for yourself. I agree that Halo 4 haters may blow their dislike out of proportion, but it’s important to remember it didn’t do that well, and aside from BlOps2, none of those games it competed with in its prime were particularly earth shattering.
>
>
> Low population also indicates that people don’t like the game.
Because CoD 4 was only the beginning of CoD becoming popular online. MW2 really killed Halo 3.
it doesn’t has to be the nr.1 xbl game to me. It just should hold a decent and faithful population, so that the current waiting times for a match will eventually be a thing of the past