If 343 can port forge, why not port the full game?

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

Yes, it was meant as a tool to make forging easier but with the inclusion of custom games, it begs the question…
“Why not just port the whole thing over?” I’ve looked around and heard rumors or reasons why 343 hasn’t gone through with it yet.

1. "Porting is hard"
While yes porting a console game to PC is hard, Microsoft has tried to make this process easier with UWP, allowing console devs to port Xbox One games to PC with ease. Yeah, they’d have to include difficult things like:
-An FOV Slider
-A proper text chat system (see Left 4 Dead 2 for inspiration)
-Armor customization in-game(As of now you have to go leave the game and go to waypoint when the console game has it IN GAME)
-Any other PC basics(LOD slider, 4-by-3 resolutions, etc)

…my point being that the game itself shouldn’t be that hard to include.
Of course, I’m no developer so it could be harder than I’m making it seem.

2 “It’s a console game” or "It was meant for consoles"
This one blows my mind. Where did First-Person innovators like DOOM, Wolfenstein and Half-Life come from? I’ll wait.
Even then, Microsoft ported the first two games to PC, so why not finish the trilogy?

3. “We don’t deserve it” or something like that.
What does that mean? We haven’t had a mainline halo campaign in 9 or 10 years. We never did get to Finish The Fight in Halo 3 or even fight through Halo 4’s campaign. I think that given the time, we do deserve another Halo game with Campaign.

Microsoft has been promoting platform equality lately (with cross-platform play and all) so wouldn’t it make sense to port your biggest IP to PC?

4. "There’s no demand"
There is demand though. People are making fan projects on PC not only to have a Halo game like 3 and before it, but to kinda prove that there are people who wanna play the new halo games on PC as well. You go to Halo 1 PC’s multiplayer right now and you’d see hundreds of people playing after almost two decades. People still play Halo 2 on PC now and then!

It also doesn’t help that the game is exclusive to Windows 10 (which I can understand why with DX 12 and the UWP) and that they didn’t do much of a good job promoting Halo 5 Forge in the first place. It just kinda popped up and disappeared.

So don’t say that there isn’t demand, because there clearly is.

I’m sure there are other reasons, but that’s what I’ve heard for the most part. In short, Halo 5 (and the other games, if possible) should be released on PC because I, among others, would buy the game. Also, given the circumstances, it would be more than possible to do.

2

I have no problem with the full version of Halo 5 going to PC after it’s been out on console for a while, which now it has so I’d be ok with it being ported over now. I understand why Microsoft doesn’t want to port it over because they need to have exclusives on xbox one, otherwise no one will buy it.

It wouldn’t shock me if Halo 5 gets a PC port next year or even this year. I would be fine with this format for halo 6 or other future games as well. Out on console for a few years first then ported to PC.

3

There’s always reason 5. They don’t want to port the full game to PC.

4

> 2533274817408735;3:
> There’s always reason 5. They don’t want to port the full game to PC.

These were reasons that I’ve seen by the community, not the company itself. Of course they wouldn’t want to, but there’s a reason to everything, right?

Even then, that’s too vague to be a reason. It’s more a statement than anything. These were reasons that I saw when I was surfing through reddit and waypoint.

5

> 2533274886819704;1:
> Yes, it was meant as a tool to make forging easier but with the inclusion of custom games, it begs the question…
> “Why not just port the whole thing over?” I’ve looked around and heard rumors or reasons why 343 hasn’t gone through with it yet.
>
> **1. “Porting is hard”**While yes porting a console game to PC is hard, Microsoft has tried to make this process easier with UWP, allowing console devs to port Xbox One games to PC with ease. Yeah, they’d have to include difficult things like:
> -An FOV Slider
> -A proper text chat system (see Left 4 Dead 2 for inspiration)
> -Armor customization in-game(As of now you have to go leave the game and go to waypoint when the console game has it IN GAME)
> -Any other PC basics(LOD slider, 4-by-3 resolutions, etc)
>
> …my point being that the game itself shouldn’t be that hard to include.
> Of course, I’m no developer so it could be harder than I’m making it seem.
>
> **2 “It’s a console game” or “It was meant for consoles”**This one blows my mind. Where did First-Person innovators like DOOM, Wolfenstein and Half-Life come from? I’ll wait.
> Even then, Microsoft ported the first two games to PC, so why not finish the trilogy?
>
> **3. “We don’t deserve it” or something like that.**What does that mean? We haven’t had a mainline halo campaign in 9 or 10 years. We never did get to Finish The Fight in Halo 3 or even fight through Halo 4’s campaign. I think that given the time, we do deserve another Halo game with Campaign.
>
> Microsoft has been promoting platform equality lately (with cross-platform play and all) so wouldn’t it make sense to port your biggest IP to PC?
>
> **4. “There’s no demand”**There is demand though. People are making fan projects on PC not only to have a Halo game like 3 and before it, but to kinda prove that there are people who wanna play the new halo games on PC as well. You go to Halo 1 PC’s multiplayer right now and you’d see hundreds of people playing after almost two decades. People still play Halo 2 on PC now and then!
>
> It also doesn’t help that the game is exclusive to Windows 10 (which I can understand why with DX 12 and the UWP) and that they didn’t do much of a good job promoting Halo 5 Forge in the first place. It just kinda popped up and disappeared.
>
> So don’t say that there isn’t demand, because there clearly is.
>
> I’m sure there are other reasons, but that’s what I’ve heard for the most part. In short, Halo 5 (and the other games, if possible) should be released on PC because I, among others, would buy the game. Also, given the circumstances, it would be more than possible to do.

I’m not opposed. However, hear me out.
First off, if PC players can play against Xbox players, the latter will be at a huge disadvantage. Even just the ease of aiming with a mouse compared to a controller is a big thing. Then you’ve got the fact that apparently PCs have faster speeds than consoles (idk, just one of those things that the PCmasterrace kids always say).
Another thing, Halo is what made Xbox. Halo means Xbox. We actually would not have Xbox if Bungie hadn’t been bribed to make Halo Combat Evolved an Xbox game. Halo just means Xbox. Of course, Halo used to mean splitscreen and LAN but that’s dead now, so heck might as well throw that argument out the window.
Lastly, Halo is Microsoft-owned. Sure, it’s 343 but they are more or less a puppet of Microsoft. That said, all it could ever be on would be Windows. Which is awful. Sure, the few people that torture themselves with Windows could benefit, it wouldn’t be nearly enough to balance how much time and how many resources would be thrown at making it PC playable.

6

> 2535440693312185;5:
> > 2533274886819704;1:
> >
>
> I’m not opposed. However, hear me out.
> First off, if PC players can play against Xbox players, the latter will be at a huge disadvantage. Even just the ease of aiming with a mouse compared to a controller is a big thing. Then you’ve got the fact that apparently PCs have faster speeds than consoles (idk, just one of those things that the PCmasterrace kids always say).
> Another thing, Halo is what made Xbox. Halo means Xbox. We actually would not have Xbox if Bungie hadn’t been bribed to make Halo Combat Evolved an Xbox game. Halo just means Xbox. Of course, Halo used to mean splitscreen and LAN but that’s dead now, so heck might as well throw that argument out the window.
> Lastly, Halo is Microsoft-owned. Sure, it’s 343 but they are more or less a puppet of Microsoft. That said, all it could ever be on would be Windows. Which is awful. Sure, the few people that torture themselves with Windows could benefit, it wouldn’t be nearly enough to balance how much time and how many resources would be thrown at making it PC playable.

  1. Yeah, making it crossplay would be an issue. That’s why they should either keep the two platforms separate or keep it in custom games or something.
  2. Yes, Halo is the flagship IP of Xbox and did basically carry the Xbox brand on its back. But times have changed. Halo isn’t that same killer for Xbox back in the early 2000’s. A few even believe that Halo is dead (Of course, I don’t). Considering the sorry state of the Xbox One’s sales, we can safely say that Halo certainly isn’t drawing anyone’s attention compared to the early to late 2000’s.
    …and 3. As stated in my post, UWP makes porting Xbox One games to PC easier. How much easier, I dunno. But if it’s easy enough for Microsoft to talk about it in public, then surely resources shouldn’t be an issue. I’ll just ignore the Windows hate lol.
7

> 2533274886819704;1:
> Microsoft has been promoting platform equality

LMAO just LMAOOO hahaha.

This made me lol. We need equality in every aspects of our lives now crying laughter emoji

#IStandWithPCgamers

#justbuyanxbox

#lmao

8

> 2533274975021613;7:
> > 2533274886819704;1:
> > Microsoft has been promoting platform equality
>
> LMAO just LMAOOO hahaha.
>
> This made me lol. We need equality in every aspects of our lives now crying laughter emoji
>
> #IStandWithPCgamers
>
> #justbuyanxbox
>
> #lmao

Poor choice of words maybe, but you get my point. They’ve been trying to get all of the platforms to play together.

9

Didn’t Microsoft already say they were going to do this in the future?

10

> 2533274903727694;9:
> Didn’t Microsoft already say they were going to do this in the future?

Where did you hear that?

11

> 2533274903727694;9:
> Didn’t Microsoft already say they were going to do this in the future?

I do not believe so. Microsoft has shown an interest in making more PC titles, but they haven’t said anything about mainline Halo titles to PC.

I think they figured the cost to port the title isn’t worth the return. Hardly anyone plays H5F, and it’s a free title. I know the windows store has its issues, but I doubt that matters much if it’s a free title.

12

> 2533274886819704;10:
> > 2533274903727694;9:
> > Didn’t Microsoft already say they were going to do this in the future?
>
> Where did you hear that?

> 2717573882290912;11:
> > 2533274903727694;9:
> > Didn’t Microsoft already say they were going to do this in the future?
>
> I do not believe so. Microsoft has shown an interest in making more PC titles, but they haven’t said anything about mainline Halo titles to PC.
>
> I think they figured the cost to port the title isn’t worth the return. Hardly anyone plays H5F, and it’s a free title. I know the windows store has its issues, but I doubt that matters much if it’s a free title.

Sorry guys, I’m just assuming that I heard that somewhere. Not trying to misguide anybody. Just thought I have heard it somewhere before.

13

> 2533274903727694;12:
> > 2533274886819704;10:
> > > 2533274903727694;9:
> > >
>
>
>
> > 2717573882290912;11:
> > > 2533274903727694;9:
> > >
>
> Sorry guys, I’m just assuming that I heard that somewhere. Not trying to misguide anybody. Just thought I have heard it somewhere before.

No worries. It’s fine.

14

> 2533274886819704;8:
> > 2533274975021613;7:
> > > 2533274886819704;1:
> > > Microsoft has been promoting platform equality
> >
> > LMAO just LMAOOO hahaha.
> >
> > This made me lol. We need equality in every aspects of our lives now crying laughter emoji
> >
> > #IStandWithPCgamers
> >
> > #justbuyanxbox
> >
> > #lmao
>
> Poor choice of words maybe, but you get my point. They’ve been trying to get all of the platforms to play together.

Was joking man I get your point and it’s valid. That line just made me spit out my drink haha.

15

In terms of memory, Halo 5 is a massive game all on its own. Installing the game on your machine would impose steeper system requirements and may cause havoc for those with smaller hard drives and whatnot.

16

> 2535429593088083;15:
> In terms of memory, Halo 5 is a massive game all on its own. Installing the game on your machine would impose steeper system requirements and may cause havoc for those with smaller hard drives and whatnot.

Yeah, I hear you. Just look at infinite Warfare on the Windows 10 store. So yeah it might be large in terms of storage but most pc gamers have hardrives at or bigger than 500gb.

17

I heard some rumors that Halo 6 might come to pc either on its own launcher or on steam. That would be really cool but it would require really high specs.

18

> 2533274886819704;6:
> > 2535440693312185;5:
> > > 2533274886819704;1:
> > >
> >
> > I’m not opposed. However, hear me out.
> > First off, if PC players can play against Xbox players, the latter will be at a huge disadvantage. Even just the ease of aiming with a mouse compared to a controller is a big thing. Then you’ve got the fact that apparently PCs have faster speeds than consoles (idk, just one of those things that the PCmasterrace kids always say).
> > Another thing, Halo is what made Xbox. Halo means Xbox. We actually would not have Xbox if Bungie hadn’t been bribed to make Halo Combat Evolved an Xbox game. Halo just means Xbox. Of course, Halo used to mean splitscreen and LAN but that’s dead now, so heck might as well throw that argument out the window.
> > Lastly, Halo is Microsoft-owned. Sure, it’s 343 but they are more or less a puppet of Microsoft. That said, all it could ever be on would be Windows. Which is awful. Sure, the few people that torture themselves with Windows could benefit, it wouldn’t be nearly enough to balance how much time and how many resources would be thrown at making it PC playable.
>
> 1. Yeah, making it crossplay would be an issue. That’s why they should either keep the two platforms separate or keep it in custom games or something.
> 2. Yes, Halo is the flagship IP of Xbox and did basically carry the Xbox brand on its back. But times have changed. Halo isn’t that same killer for Xbox back in the early 2000’s. A few even believe that Halo is dead (Of course, I don’t). Considering the sorry state of the Xbox One’s sales, we can safely say that Halo certainly isn’t drawing anyone’s attention compared to the early to late 2000’s.
> …and 3. As stated in my post, UWP makes porting Xbox One games to PC easier. How much easier, I dunno. But if it’s easy enough for Microsoft to talk about it in public, then surely resources shouldn’t be an issue. I’ll just ignore the Windows hate lol.

It’s just on 3, you probably will never see a Microsoft puppet port to anything other than windows or Xbox, like Steam. This is just to keep everyone centered on Microsoft. Buying a Microsoft operating system, a Microsoft game…all the more money for Microsoft. That’s why they got into games in the first place.

19

Pc playerbase would have a laugh if the entire thing got ported over. People already have issues with aiming being broke, I imagine 343 is hiding more from them.

20

> 2535440693312185;18:
> It’s just on 3, you probably will never see a Microsoft puppet port to anything other than windows or Xbox, like Steam. This is just to keep everyone centered on Microsoft. Buying a Microsoft operating system, a Microsoft game…all the more money for Microsoft. That’s why they got into games in the first place.

If they wanted to restrict the game for Windows, all they’d need to do is make it support no other graphics API than DirectX. You know, many games on Steam—probably most, in fact—can only be played on WIndows because they have no support for open source APIs like OpenGL or Vulcan. Publising a game on Steam is not the same as publishing it for every operating system. Steam is just a distribution platform.

Also, just so you know, almost all PC gamers are on Windows, so releasing a Windows only game would hardly be for “the few people that torture themselves with Windows”, whatever you mean by that.