So I’ve been thinking lately and have come to the conclusion that a 2014 release of the next instalment of halo is too soon.
I get the sense that Microsoft are the people holding the whips and 343 employees are the slaves churning out the game.
I’m a huge halo fan and have been way back since 2002, I want Halo to be innovative, have a strong science fiction (not science fantasy) based campaign and a multiplayer that isn’t so shallow (coughhalo 4cough). A two year development of a game is simply not enough time to achieve this.
Look at the success of GTA V, that game took five years to develop and it was the highest grossing game of all time.
The release of the new Call of Duty Ghosts show us through average sales that people are getting bored with franchises that whip out games in a year or two. I must also mention assassins creed which is heading down this path.
A Halo game in development for 3-4 years gives me shivers how unbelievably good it would be. The sales would be off the charts.
I want 343 to take their time. The franchise needs to take a long deep breath and assess the situation. The next generation or instalment of halo I believe should come out in late 2015. Its a long time I know but for halo to be innovative and super duper awesome just like back in the good ol’days, time must be given. The quality of game is proportional to the amount of time spent on it.
I’m curious to here other peoples thoughts. 2014 too soon?
I agree with your point about getting bored with Chief, thats why they should go for the split linear campaign like halo 2 with the arbiter. Halo 2 has the best campaign in my opinion.
A game every two years with ODST type games in-between is pretty ridiculous. Maybe a game every three years with an ODST game in-between.
The problem with trying to give developers the time they really need is linked to the struggle to stay relevant in the pimply faces of the FPS community.
Implying you actually know how long Halo 5 has been in development. Implying development of Halo 5 suddenly began the moment Halo 4 released, and not overlapped with Halo 4’s development. Implying the end product’s quality is determined by the amount of time the game is in development. (“Duke Nukem Forever”, anyone?)
> Implying you actually know how long Halo 5 has been in development.
> Implying development of Halo 5 suddenly began the moment Halo 4 released, and not overlapped with Halo 4’s development.
> Implying the end product’s quality is determined by the amount of time the game is in development. (“Duke Nukem Forever”, anyone?)
The problems that DNF faced make it a poor comparison. A very poor comparison.
> > Implying you actually know how long Halo 5 has been in development.
> > Implying development of Halo 5 suddenly began the moment Halo 4 released, and not overlapped with Halo 4’s development.
> > Implying the end product’s quality is determined by the amount of time the game is in development. (“Duke Nukem Forever”, anyone?)
>
> The problems that DNF faced make it a poor comparison. A very poor comparison.
Indeed. Going through, five? different developers?
> > > Implying you actually know how long Halo 5 has been in development.
> > > Implying development of Halo 5 suddenly began the moment Halo 4 released, and not overlapped with Halo 4’s development.
> > > Implying the end product’s quality is determined by the amount of time the game is in development. (“Duke Nukem Forever”, anyone?)
> >
> > The problems that DNF faced make it a poor comparison. A very poor comparison.
>
> Indeed. Going through, five? different developers?
And having to compensate for the shift to a new console. And having a amateur staff. And I’ve even heard rumors of their budget being pulled (briefly) once.
I would imagine the upcoming halo had probably started its development in the middle to later years of halo 4’s development. but in my opinion the time span is so and so.
Halo CE came out in 2001, the reason halo 2 came out in 2004 was because of set backs and problems that occurred with the game and in the studio.
Halo 3 came out in 2007 most likely because of the console switch and things were not as fast at that time. but that’s speculation
Halo wars was a product of a another developer but still released a year after halo 3.
ODST were back with bungie but another yearly release
then the same with reach.
so 2 years is enough time in between games. there was only 2 years between reach and halo 4.
If they can deliver, I don’t see what the problem is.
They have the talent, they have the funding, and they’re working in close-partnership with MS and the people who know the hardware the best. Not to mention, 3+ year development cycles are simply unsustainable (even for first party) given rising costs of development in recent years.
Unless you’re Rockstar (who can break even on a $265M production within hours), it just doesn’t make sense to spend so much time making a game.
Of course, I would be all for a late 2015 release. The X1 will be cheaper by then, and the game will surely be more polished and a complete product.
Here’s some news for you, 343i has double the staff that Bungie had when they were working on Halo. You know what other games had 2 year cycles Uncharted, Gears and Battlefield. I’m pretty sure they can come up with a good game in that period of time as long as they already had a plan from the beginning for what they were going to do. I heard they already planned most of what they’re doing for the trilogy even before they finished Halo4.
Considering the amount of resources they have at their disposal with the XB1 allows them to not only finish a game quicker with lots more people working on it, but the dont have to remove things from the game as much due to hardware limits.
They can more creative since they dont have huge impending FPS issues preventing them from making a visually enticing game. Overall time doesnt really matter two much (unless its absolutely ridiculous like 10 months) especially with the amount of people working on it and now with the new technology they can create a better game in less time. After all wasnt BF4, ME3 and countless other wonderful games, were created in roughly 2 years?
> I want Halo to…have a strong science fiction (not science fantasy) based campaign
What’s wrong with science-fantasy, which I would hesitate to even call it that. The Forerunner Saga maybe, but as the saying goes, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
> > Implying you actually know how long Halo 5 has been in development.
> > Implying development of Halo 5 suddenly began the moment Halo 4 released, and not overlapped with Halo 4’s development.
> > Implying the end product’s quality is determined by the amount of time the game is in development. (“Duke Nukem Forever”, anyone?)
>
> The problems that DNF faced make it a poor comparison. A very poor comparison.
My point remains. If the game is finished, release it. No point putting it off another year or two just to have more time between releases. Besides, it’s better for early adopters of the Xbox One. There’s many, like myself, who are putting off and waiting to see how the Xbox One fairs in it’s first year to actual get it. Halo 5 would be the first game I’d get for it.
I think 2 years is enough. More people are working on this game, better hardware, and they most likely know what they want the game to be like. I think the game will be great. Still, I think a beta will be helpful and they should really make a beta for this game.
> > > Implying you actually know how long Halo 5 has been in development.
> > > Implying development of Halo 5 suddenly began the moment Halo 4 released, and not overlapped with Halo 4’s development.
> > > Implying the end product’s quality is determined by the amount of time the game is in development. (“Duke Nukem Forever”, anyone?)
> >
> > The problems that DNF faced make it a poor comparison. A very poor comparison.
>
> My point remains. If the game is finished, release it. No point putting it off another year or two just to have more time between releases.
> Besides, it’s better for early adopters of the Xbox One. There’s many, like myself, who are putting off and waiting to see how the Xbox One fairs in it’s first year to actual get it. Halo 5 would be the first game I’d get for it.
There has been a lot of scepticism surrounding the new consoles (especially XBO), with games such as Destiny and Titan Fall (as well as most of the other games launching this holiday) getting Cross-Gen releases, it gives the impression that publishers aren’t confident in a solely Next-Gen release for a title.
But that’s just my observation.
By the time Halo 5 comes out, the XBO will be in a lot more homes than say early 2014, so I don’t think it will have any problems.
Halo 5 has been being worked on since mid-2012 so a late 2014 release means it will have been in development for almost 30 months by a team of nearly 400 people, and that’s not long enough? I think it’s a ton of time, I mean the games have linear campaigns that aren’t too long, medium sized multiplayer maps, how long does it really take. There are games with very long open-ended campaigns and tons of side missions that get less work put in to them and there still great. 2 and a half years is more than enough time to make the game, they’re probably also making some smaller scale side game (ODST:2 ???) as well.
> > > > Implying you actually know how long Halo 5 has been in development.
> > > > Implying development of Halo 5 suddenly began the moment Halo 4 released, and not overlapped with Halo 4’s development.
> > > > Implying the end product’s quality is determined by the amount of time the game is in development. (“Duke Nukem Forever”, anyone?)
> > >
> > > The problems that DNF faced make it a poor comparison. A very poor comparison.
> >
> > My point remains. If the game is finished, release it. No point putting it off another year or two just to have more time between releases.
> > Besides, it’s better for early adopters of the Xbox One. There’s many, like myself, who are putting off and waiting to see how the Xbox One fairs in it’s first year to actual get it. Halo 5 would be the first game I’d get for it.
>
> There has been a lot of scepticism surrounding the new consoles (especially XBO), with games such as Destiny and Titan Fall (as well as most of the other games launching this holiday) getting Cross-Gen releases, it gives the impression that publishers aren’t confident in a solely Next-Gen release for a title.
> But that’s just my observation.
>
> By the time Halo 5 comes out, the XBO will be in a lot more homes than say early 2014, so I don’t think it will have any problems.
That’s an issue of install base. There’s going to be more people on the Xbox 360 and PS3 than the Xbox One and PS4 for a year or two, so developers/publishers of multiplatform titles like Destiny, Titanfall, BF4, and CoD: Ghosts are maximizing their profits. They know for sure what platform their consumer is playing on right now. They already own the system, so it’s a matter of $60 vs. $460-560+. Plus there’s those upgrade deals that allow people to upgrade to the next-gen version for $10 more.