"Launch is just the beginning"

Games Halo Infinite
1

I haven’t seen a lot of discussion about this yet, but during the tech preview livestream, Brian and Tom remarked that:

  1. not everything will be in (assassinations for example);
  2. not everything (found in the tech preview) will be fixed come launch.
  3. “launch is just the beginning” and as a live service game it will bring “later opportunities”.

Do you think this game will be fixed and complete at launch? Or will we start out bare bones with modes, and functionalities added/fixed later?

2

Considering the launches of MCC and H5 I doubt 343 will want to launch a game lacking on content or incredibly buggy.

3

> 2644524424069134;1:
> I haven’t seen a lot of discussion about this yet, but during the tech preview livestream, Brian and Tom remarked that:
>
> 1. not everything will be in (assassinations for example);
> 2. not everything (found in the tech preview) will be fixed come launch.
> 3. “launch is just the beginning” and as a live service game it will bring “later opportunities”.
>
> Do you think this game will be fixed and complete at launch? Or will we start out bare bones with modes, and functionalities added/fixed later?

In a word?
No

I don’t think if they stick to a 2021 release the game will launch complete
That said, neither do they

They’ve already told us what type of game this will be
Its a live service game, its not intended to be complete at launch it will have content drip fed to us over time
I for one despise games a service models (see anthem fallout 76 etc etc) but time will tell

4

God i hope they realize part of the reason H5 failed was the lack of content at launch (no forge, no btb, barely any playlists, …)

5

> 2533274927740213;2:
> Considering the launches of MCC and H5 I doubt 343 will want to launch a game lacking on content or incredibly buggy.

Man, I really hope so. These comments got me worried though, as they don’t have a lot of time left before the planned Holiday launch.

6

As long as there is a good amount of content to keep us enjoying and playing.
I don’t want this being a barebones game with very few maps/modes etc.

7

I don’t know but I do think that they started flighting a bit too late. Halo 5 sucked at launch because it shipped with a crappy campaign, no forge, no splitscreen, no btb, and fewer game modes than Halo CE. It was lacking in content. MCC on the other hand launched with like 4 or 5 Halo games and had plenty of content however, it sucked at launch because it was pretty much completely broken. We can’t just say well I hope the game launches with a whole bunch of content and expect that to be a good game. Infinite needs to launch with a strong campaign, forge, btb, theater, everything you would expect from a Halo game AND all of that needs to be functional day one. I don’t think anyone expects it to be golden and 100% bug free (which is impossible) but I don’t like hearing the multiplayer is free to play! and it’s a live service game! as excuses for delivering us a garbage game.

I think it ultimately depends on how much feedback they got and which feedback is seen as important. For instance, with assassinations I am one who plays with them turned off. I do think the feature could benefit from a bit of a redesign (it has been pretty much exactly the same since Halo Reach) and I am not bothered by them adding that in later. I gave some feedback about things I would like changed with the HUD, but I think those could wait until after launch. There are some issues from the flight that I think absolutely do need to be addressed and solved before launch:

  • Not working on 900 series graphics cards - PC performance issues - Overall stability- the game should extremely rarely, if ever, crash. - Server issues- at times about every other match I would search for I would get kicked back to the menu - Audio issues when gettting joined in progress - Clamber weirdness- sometimes it looks like you got over the ledge then you just fall downAt the very least all of these need to be fixed (and I believe they said a good deal of issues from the flight were already fixed). When Infinite launches, it should have all the content we expect and it should be functional. It shouldn’t be like oh the game has forge, but since it runs on a dedicated server you can rarely start a game and when you do it’s extremely laggy, or oh the campaign’s there but it is only a few crappy missions with more to come later, or btb is in the game but it takes 5 hours to get a game, and when you do get a game the performance is awful with a 50% chance of you getting disconnected.

I think the technical preview was in a fairly decent state for what it was. They have had what like 5 or so years to work on this game. I think it is clear what we expect from the game at launch and I expect them to launch it in such a state. As long as the later flights go smoothly, I think they will be able to deliver a great game. But this is why I don’t like that they waited so long to start flighting. If in the later flights everything goes wrong and there’s no time to act on feedback then they’re in trouble. Ultimately, we’ll have to wait and see.

8

Bumping this as the latest dev update confirms my fears from my OP.

It seems like they are going to use the game as a service excuse to launch incomplete, then keep adding features later. Am I seeing this wrong?

Please discuss further.

9

> 2533274927740213;2:
> Considering the launches of MCC and H5 I doubt 343 will want to launch a game lacking on content or incredibly buggy.

This aged like milk lmao

10

> 2533274927740213;2:
> Considering the launches of MCC and H5 I doubt 343 will want to launch a game lacking on content or incredibly buggy.

Aged like milk.

11

Definitely disappointed at this turn of events. I personally don’t use Forge or co-op on campaign but I know MANY do. Launch SP and MP better rock our socks otherwise we’ll all probably be really disappointed.

12

Starting to get Cyberpunk vibes…

13

What I got from the update is that the game just isn’t ready. I worry about the long term population effects of launching an incomplete game. Hopefully the amount of missing launch content will be limited to what was discussed in today’s update

14

I say take the safe route and delay the game

15

> 2533274794684102;13:
> What I got from the update is that the game just isn’t ready. I worry about the long term population effects of launching an incomplete game. Hopefully the amount of missing launch content will be limited to what was discussed in today’s update

you remember their post launch support for halo 5 though things were coming out every few months it is just a matter of patience and dare I say leveled expectations it easy to run away with all the hype thats about.

16

> 2533274868747146;15:
> > 2533274794684102;13:
> > What I got from the update is that the game just isn’t ready. I worry about the long term population effects of launching an incomplete game. Hopefully the amount of missing launch content will be limited to what was discussed in today’s update
>
> you remember their post launch support for halo 5 though things were coming out every few months it is just a matter of patience and dare I say leveled expectations it easy to run away with all the hype thats about.

You mean the post launch support that was 90% content that would have been in at launch in previous games? Yeah I remember that

17

> 2533274927740213;11:
> Definitely disappointed at this turn of events. I personally don’t use Forge or co-op on campaign but I know MANY do. Launch SP and MP better rock our socks otherwise we’ll all probably be really disappointed.

Personally I like that Joseph Staten, Bonnie Ross and their team at 343 Industries are currently focusing on the Single Player Campaign levels and the Multiplayer levels in Halo Infinite. I am very happy that they are doing that currently. At the same time, I am also very happy that they are not releasing Co-op Campaign levels and Forge immediately on Halo Infinite launch. I already mentioned this. I don’t want to see the Halo Infinite Co-op Campaign levels and Forge that are halfway finished especially when it comes to bugs and glitches.

18

> 2533274794684102;16:
> > 2533274868747146;15:
> > > 2533274794684102;13:
> > > What I got from the update is that the game just isn’t ready. I worry about the long term population effects of launching an incomplete game. Hopefully the amount of missing launch content will be limited to what was discussed in today’s update
> >
> > you remember their post launch support for halo 5 though things were coming out every few months it is just a matter of patience and dare I say leveled expectations it easy to run away with all the hype thats about.
>
> You mean the post launch support that was 90% content that would have been in at launch in previous games? Yeah I remember that

For real man. If the whole GaaS thing ends up just being an excuse to slowly add features all the old games had and pretend it’s new content while they collect fat checks from MS like they did with H5 their population is going to tank fast.

19

“Launch is just the beginning”

Means the game wont be ready at launch.

I cant believe its taking people this long to see that 343i loves to copy other developers. The normal practice right now is to sell incomplete games. Just like how the norm was advance mobility back when Titan Fall came out.

343i lacks an Identity it is clearly shown within its leadership, I’m not talking about the individual developers. Bonnie straight up lied in our face and said no Halo would launch without split-screen again.

20

> 2533274868747146;15:
> > 2533274794684102;13:
> >
>
> you remember their post launch support for halo 5 though things were coming out every few months it is just a matter of patience and dare I say leveled expectations it easy to run away with all the hype thats about.

Seriously stop…
Stop making excuses for them, their halo 5 “support content” were things that should have been there day 1.
People forget that H5 gave us such fantastic “FREE DLC’S” such as

-Big team Battle
-Oddball
-The Gravity hammer
-Forge (hey look its “DLC” again this time around)
-Theater
-Custom game broswer
-Firefight

and the list goes on…and on…thats not “post launch support”
Thats finishing the game after people bought it