Through sales of copies that seem to have stagnated years ago?
MCC was peak profitable twice, once at launch (2014) and once at the PC release (2019). It’s currently most likely scraping a cut of funding off the top of Game Pass if any at all, keeping in mind there is a skeleton crew working on this that you can count on your hands and toes.
At two points was it worthwhile to invest more time and effort into this title, but right now it’s not even in the 50 top played games chart on Microsoft’s own leaderboards and half as many concurrent players as The Sims does.
I want this game to receive more support and additions that turn my favorite games into the experiences that couldn’t have happened when they were at their prime. But the data just doesn’t support this wish to make it feasible.
Please make it make sense where the funds for continued worthwhile major support are coming from?
The MCC has been a mainstay of the Xbox Top 30 chart according to TrueAchievements popularity charts for as long as I can remember in recent years. All Xbox players are either playing via gamepass or owned copy with a Xbox Live gold sub. I’m sure MS/343 have internal metrics to see how players use their subscriptions which probably is a factor to how much funding 343 is to receive. Regardless, Infinite is supposedly the cash cow to fund all future projects.
The MCC against all odds has been supported for the last 8 years. The team has a lot of work left to do, and is hopefully reason enough to continue on.
Imo the most reasonable thing they could have done already passed somewhat when they decided to integrate Halo Online content into Halo 3 in 2021. Had Halo Online been sold as another Multiplayer, had all of its original content been supplemented by the content from H2A and CEA’s asset pool, and had the gameplay been overhauled into something like modders were doing to it in 2018, it would have almost certainly boosted player counts for this last year and the next.
They could still try it anyways, but Halo 3 would likely cause a controversy since a lot of people would want the new cosmetic content removed and transferred over to Halo Online, and an equal amount would want that content left untouched and unaltered in Halo 3 while also being added to Halo Online. And thats not even accounting for the work needed to clean it up, market it, and release it.
I’m convinced that Corporate aka Microsoft didn’t see it that way and they saw it as a threat to Infinite, which is why seasons stopped and they said support would be cut by the end of 2022. I no longer believe support will be cut, as Infinite is sinking like the Titanic and MCC still manages to generate hype and goodwill with each new update, and with 343 abandoning the quest for microtransaction points, MCC is making players feel pretty good.
Now all 343 has to do with MCC is fix the Matchmaking issues, improve the private file limit, and lift boundary restrictions for Forge and customs and we’ll have the perfect Halo game.
As with most data we have available to us, we don’t have the whole picture which is why we have to look at all available outlets, not just one.
I’m not saying it’s incorrect, but the positioning of titles within the official Microsoft “most played” chart does imply active average player counts as the games are shown to deviate depending on the day, week, or month. So it’s weird that on an official 50 game chart that MCC is nowhere to be seen, but is seen on a 3rd party chart at 26/40 implying that it should be somewhere around the lower middle portion of the official chart.
Let’s not immediately assume the outlier is correct when all other data suggests otherwise.
And PC players are either playing via gamepass or owned copy without a Gold sub.
It is important to note that PC players are incorporated in both the TrueAchievements count and Microsoft “most played” charts as an “Active Xbox Account” is utilized on both with no specification that data is taken from the console only.
Much like H5G most likely was the cash cow that enabled the support that MCC received.
That being said, supplemental funding from MCC would suggest more interest in the title and could provoke more support structure added to the game.
Hope and goodwill isn’t enough to support it financially.
If 343 has any sense or any pulse on the fan base they would do everything they could to fix halo mcc and keep adding to it. Not even a year after launch, Infinite numbers are almost to the mcc levels which shows mcc is the only medium 343 has left to show halo fans that they actually want to turn things around. Most have already written off halo infinite and any future halo releases.
I know a lot of people always point out that it still looks great. But imagine what it could be?
Personally I would love a full on remake, that included sprint and assassinations, and restored incomplete content that bungie intended, like the full vision for the Cortana mission including the scarab battle, and the cut mission “Guardian Forest.” I know the sprint and assassinations bit would be too controversial though, so I would still be quite happy with a remaster.
That picture from the August Matchmaking Updates really got me, the spartans back to back with one holding the energy sword looked for just a moment like the moment in Halo 3 where the arbiter goes back to back with chief after killing Truth.
Im pretty sure both Infinite and MCC is costing MS lots of money atm, espcially Infinite, MS is probably bleeding money on Infinite.
There are 2 ways to go, either ditch Infinite and start making Halo 7, or try to keep it alive with new updates and content. But the trust is broken so I dont really see how Inifinite can receover its popularity.
343 had its chance but there where months with no content updates so people left Halo Infinite and some also started playing MCC again.
Why didnt 343 just release some more maps and content, or atleast change the boring playlists.
No offense but I think you need to check for a different pulse.
Basing your stance on one metric actually does your argument a disservice. In the same sentence you point out that Infinite is within spitting distance of MCC’s low numbers, you suggest that MCC is the metric we should use to turn things around?
MCC is objectively the better experience of the two, but that doesn’t mean it’s more successful statistically.
Microsoft Most Played Games
Infinite: 16/50
MCC: (not on chart)
Microsoft Top Paid Games
Infinite (campaign): 131/998
MCC: 71/100 (998)
Microsoft Top Free Games
Infinite: 33/100 (198)
MCC: N/A
TrueAchievements
Infinite: 14/40
MCC: 26/40
Newzoo
Infinite: 12/20
MCC: (not on chart)
Again both objectively and subjectively MCC is the better of the two products, but that doesn’t mean that it’s commercially more successful. MCC is most likely only kept afloat from the success of other products, and discussion on future development needs to keep this in mind. I would love to see MCC reach heights that the Devs of the original titles only dreamed about, but it’s unrealistic to expect this without factoring in the cost and manpower it requires.
Maybe in spirit, but not in practice. Your sentence better describes MCC statistically.
Again, I want nothing more than MCC to rocket to success, but financially it doesn’t seem possible.
Since you don’t know anything about the budget or priorities currently happening at 343 everything you post is just pure speculation. Do I really have to say anything else, you are comparing a game that’s almost 10 years old to a game that’s not even a year old and the current players are almost the same. Please stop embarrassing yourself.
We will wait and see. At a minimum we can expect the MCC support to continue until the mod tools for H4 are released and few other features. The new studio head comes from the MCC team which would imply he is interested in continuing the support. The development team that currently works on the collection themselves seem interested in continuing their effort.
The more I think about it, the MS popularity charts probably track each version of the MCC separately. Since 2019 the PC version on the Microsoft store treats each title as DLC. I know the trueachievements chart consolidates different editions into 1 title giving a more wholistic idea of its popularity. Given how the MCC hasn’t left the top 40 in the last 2 years I doubt it’s a fluke/error on trueachievements part. I’m curious if the absence on the MS has to do with a difference in consolidation.
Personally I think 343 should ditch Infinite after Forge drops, work on getting the Mega Blox Halo game up and running release that to hold players over while we wait for H7.
I hope they continue support for the MCC it’s been the best thing 343 has done. I would LOVE the MCC to be micro transaction free but at the end of the day it’s a business and no business produces things for free.
I never insinuated that my reply or even the entirety of my argument was anything more than speculation.
However we have plenty of official responses, comparable statistics, timeline references, and knowledge of internal operations alongside basic logistic, economic and financial understandings of both inside and outside of 343i to draw up hypotheticals or rational understandings of how things might work.
And it’s a valid comparison to make. But again it’s one small facet of the bigger picture. I’m not trying to pull a “gotcha” or even win any argument or anything. I’m trying to have a discussion on the probability and rationality of long term continued support of a title that’s almost 8 years old.
It’s one thing to make a suggest that MCC is deserving of continued development (to which I completely 110% agree with) but to purport it’s current ‘overwhelming success’ when nearly all metrics show the opposite isn’t helping the cause. MCC isn’t as down bad as Infinite in terms of comparable lifetime metrics, but it certainly isn’t in a fantastic place either when compared with current or even recent metrics.
If you have 100 runners, and the 98th is bragging to 99th about finishing before, they both finished poorly.
Or better yet:
https://imgflip.com/i/6u81ci
No need to come at me with claws out, just looking for a discussion.
Out of the three responses I replied to you with, replying to and doubling down on only this one unfortunately isn’t selling me on your sincerity. Regardless there’s no need for concern, my reputation remains untarnished I assure you.
If you would like to constructively discuss further, here’s where we left off:
@Freak_A_Fan attempting to realign the conversation along a constructive path isn’t bait
