Rethink your current views on 343 Indstustries

Games Halo: The Master Chief Collection
1

TL:DR is at the bottom of the page.
Alright, I’ve noticed this forum has a few things. It has:
-People posting bugs and glitches so that 343I can fix them(which is what this forum is MEANT for)
-People complaining, consistently, as though each little post matters, and as though each post covers something that the others didn’t. (You’re delaying what you want to happen! Let 343I see BUGS in this forum, NOT your complaints about what your post is delaying)
-People trying to defend 343I. Typically, these are usually very respectful, and logical, but on some occassions, insult those that have trouble with it.

THIS post, is going to cover all the bases. This isn’t me being a fanboy, or a hater, this is me simply examing the situation, using logic, and common decency. This post is attempting to avoid all assumptions, insults, misplaced information, and opinions.
Now that that is out of the way, I will begin.

343 Industries, has released a somewhat broken game. While this is bad for the industry, and bad for the consumers, they have quite a few logical reasons for this being the case.

-343I attempted to put 4 previously existing games onto one disk, one menu, with essentially a fifth game tacked on - this is a major feat, and has not been done before.
-Halo for the first time, is on Xbox One. A developer takes time to get used to the new functionality and capability of the new console. Perhaps a project as big as TMCC was not meant to be the first one.
-This game was produced by multiple companies, while 343I tried to manage them. Certain Affinity, Saber Interactive, and Blur(all very big and respected companies, known by many) were attempted to be managed on one project, by 343 Industries, a company that was created specifically to take on the Halo franchise in 2009, and is still comparatively small.
-343I attempted to release it as close to Halo 2’s original release date, while also releasing it on a Tuesday. While this was a dumb business decision, sentiment can only happen once, while fixes can be done at any time.

This forum, is meant for bugs. Those that are simply complaining about the game, acting like 343I is truly a terrible company, are simply clogging up the forum, where if it wasn’t clogged by posts like that, perhaps they would notice bug-posts, and fix them.

Getting a refund, while a viable option, is also a very strange one. You bought this game, not to play it THAT WEEK, you bought it to play it at all. Returning it, just gives you another two trips to take(assuming you wish to repurchase it later, when everything is fixed).

A lot of people assume 343I is doing nothing, and doesn’t care. This is an assumption, and no real proof has been shown. However, proof has been shown to the contrary. They have given regular updates on the site, and on Twitter. A couple of their server-side fixes have improved the matchmaking experience. I have been able to find matches in 5 minutes, then play 3-4 more afterwards, while at launch, I couldn’t at all. There has been signs of improvement. 20% improvement, by 343I’s statements.

While we should not regularly defend a broken game, we shouldn’t hate on it, either. The time for fixing the whole situation has passed, now, we can simply wait for 343I to respectfully fix it - avoiding hate and insult, will allow for a more positive view of the entire Halo community, as one person, can affect the views of based upon everyone.

I understand that some people have managed to enjoy the game, while others have unfairly gotten one that simply will not work. Typically, some people will hate the game, others will like it, based on their own circumstances. Despite this limited and selfish view, It is important to point out that others are enjoying it, and you should be thankful for them - as you should be thankful for all of 343I’s efforts to bring this game to you, in a functioning fashion.

We are all community members of Halo, we all care for it’s existence, and continued success. So, I ask that you respectfully appreciate others opinions, and stop trying to force your own defense, or hate, down another person’s throat - figuratively speaking, of course. Or, I hope figuratively, at least.

343 Industries,despite all the pessimism, and hate that they are receiving, is still attempting to fix the game, for you. They are a very professional company, and if even they have been unable to resolve these issues yet, there is a perfectly good reason for it.
Meanwhile, you are probably sitting there, waiting for the game to be fixed. While this IS all you can do(aside from bug posting, but I feel that most bugs have probably been mentioned at this point), it would do good to be respectful about it.

Despite I have never been a game developer myself, I do understand how hard it is, and how stressful it is, to have a currently troublesome product. It brings bad views upon Halo, 343 Industries, and gaming in general.

A lot of you have chosen to word your complaints in a very offensive, and often inconsiderate way. I simply ask that you stop. Being so negative, hateful, and hostile about it helps no-one - not even you. Can you imagine how bothering it is to be near an angry person? It can often make you angry as well, and no-one enjoys the feeling of being angry.

I know what your response will be - I’m just some defensive fanboy. While I am a Halo fanboy, I am not attempting to defend 343I. I am simply trying to be unbiased, logical, and un-hostile - as I would be for anyone, any company, and anything.
I hope that this post has enlightened a few of you, and perhaps made you consider the whole situation for a moment.

TL:DR : 343 Industries is at fault, but deserves very little hate, if any. [WARNING: You are not allowed to try to argue against this if you JUST read the TL:DR]

2

This

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What I hate are these kids who got the game with their parents hard earned money being the ones who are complaining the loudest and pulling the lawyer card. LOL. Your parents give you the game so you’ll stay away from them and that’s about how much they love you.

4

Why dont they deserve hate lol? The multiplayer doesnt work for the time being which is understandable I guess. But the single player is a buggy mess. I beat halo 1 today and the game crashed immediately after the final scene. Not to mention the game skipped a whole level (343 guilty spark), you cant save and quit (the level just restarts from the beginning when you load it), and the ai doesnt follow you. This is just what ive encountered in halo 1 alone.

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> 2533274876794799;4:
> Why dont they deserve hate lol? The multiplayer doesnt work for the time being which is understandable I guess. But the single player is a buggy mess. I beat halo 1 today and the game crashed immediately after the final scene. Not to mention the game skipped a whole level (343 guilty spark), you cant save and quit (the level just restarts from the beginning when you load it), and the ai doesnt follow you. This is just what ive encountered in halo 1 alone.

Perhaps if you had read it in it’s entirety, as oppose to just the TL:DR, you would understand why.

6

Don’t be so apologetic.
343 may or may not deserve the blame, I am sure MS decided to rush 343 into releasing this in a rush, because budgets, deadlines and delaying a game release like this one costs a lot of money and they need to sell Xbox One with the MCC.

If 343 was serious about bug reporting, they would have setup a web page with a form to submit bugs, not a forum where anyone can create threads, bump threads etc besides it shouldn’t be the player’s job to do bug testing for a game release.

Players voicing their discontent have every right to do so and how they choose to do it is just a reflection of how severely disappointed they may feel about MCC and more importantly how disappointed they have the right to be are as a consumer that paid for a product that does not by any means deliver the features that were advertised.

Looks a lot like the MCC wasn’t tested, or not properly tested and they should have done a public beta test, or taken more time to finish the game instead of releasing this buggy mess.
And now fans are serving as play testers, for free, while they paid for a console, game and online service which was supposed to deliver as advertised.

How much time will we have to wait to get a fully functional game we already paid for?

7

This excuse of putting everything in one disc being something to forgive is unreasonable to me. I would have loved for them to do a disc for campaign and another for multiplayer, just like they have done in the past.

Yes, others have been disrespectful about all of the unfixed problems, but I belief 343 is on the lower end of the balance and should have figured out ways to prevent this from happening or lessening the effect of this bugged game and system.

Yes, campaign is playable, but I would say most people bought the xbox for the multiplayer. To be able to bring back the memories of playing with your friends against players around the globe and proving who is better. The competitive atmosphere that Halo brings. I am pretty sure no one is able to play continuous matchmaking/custom games without having any problems. I payed $500+ for something that does not work. If you have worked for the money, you should expect a fully functional product.

8

A gentlemanly good post sir!

9

To the OP:

The problem with your approach is that the consumer has limited options after purchasing a product that does not work as advertised. These options are:

  1. Complain
  2. Ignore
  3. Return

The video game industry has been consistently poor at releasing major titles without bugs that render significant portions of the game unusable. While perfect releases are likely impossible due to the complexity of the games and the inability to test all conditions under which a game may be played prior to release, there is no question that the situation could be improved - perhaps dramatically so. However, unless someone gives the studios a reason to improve, there is no incentive for them to do so.

At some point, an outsider will take advantage of this situation and make an entry into the market with a focus on usability and reliability. The nearest analogy is Apple with tablet computing. The true consumer tablet market was actually initiated by Microsoft in 2002 with the release of their Microsoft Tablet PC specifications. However, all of the tablets that followed were plagued by reliability and usability issues with the operating system and incompletely tested hardware. 12 years later, the terms “tablet” and “iPad” are almost interchangeable despite Apple not having released a tablet until 2010. Apple started work on the iPad a decade prior to the release with the idea that - if they released a tablet that did not require an advanced degree in computing - they would dominate the market.

The video game industry at present is ripe for such an outside entry. Both the PS4 and Xbox One have truly awful user interfaces (even though Microsoft largely got it right by the end of the 360’s time and then inexplicably screwed it up with the One) and the games that run on them have a host of reliability issues - some of which are certainly due to the operating system and not the game itself. Should such an outside, Apple-esque entry happen prior to the Halo saga playing out, Halo will suffer an early death because the market for Xbox One games will rapidly deplete.

Is that what you want?

Unless consumers make it clear to the manufacturers that the current trend of releasing partially functional software and patching it later is unacceptable, an industry shakeup is inevitable. The game we all want to continue playing (along with our $600+ investment in Xbox One equipment) will die before its time. Complaints have a habit of spreading far and wide, and they do affect the manufacturer’s pocketbook. Word-of-mouth is what killed the second-year sales for Halo 4 (and it’s also what kept Halo 3 so popular for so long). Word-of-mouth will similarly affect the future MCC sales. That is the incentive that complaints provide.

Many complaints are melodramatic or downright offensive (comparing the MCC screwups to domestic violence, for example), and those ought to be curtailed. As a community, there is no reason why we should not chastise the OPs of such complaints for their choice of analogy. But chastising them for posting a complaint does not help 343i or Microsoft. All it does is help reinforce the counterproductive strategy of releasing partially broken software and patching it later - a strategy that will ultimately undermine Microsoft’s (or Sony’s . . . or both) share of the market, with the concomitant consequence that future releases of Halo either suffer in quality or will not even be made.

Defending 343i by pointing to their *post-*release efforts does not help the community. It does not help 343i. It does not help Microsoft. If you really love Halo and you really want 343i to succeed, you would not be defending them. You would be criticizing them loudly and clearly.

They will not change unless we provide them a reason to do so . . . and perhaps not even then. But I, for one, am willing to try.

[/soapbox]

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> 2533274971476153;9:
> To the OP:
>
> The problem with your approach is that the consumer has limited options after purchasing a product that does not work as advertised. These options are:
>
> 1. Complain
> 2. Ignore
> 3. Return
>
> The video game industry has been consistently poor at releasing major titles without bugs that render significant portions of the game unusable. While perfect releases are likely impossible due to the complexity of the games and the inability to test all conditions under which a game may be played prior to release, there is no question that the situation could be improved - perhaps dramatically so. However, unless someone gives the studios a reason to improve, there is no incentive for them to do so.
>
> At some point, an outsider will take advantage of this situation and make an entry into the market with a focus on usability and reliability. The nearest analogy is Apple with tablet computing. The true consumer tablet market was actually initiated by Microsoft in 2002 with the release of their Microsoft Tablet PC specifications. However, all of the tablets that followed were plagued by reliability and usability issues with the operating system and incompletely tested hardware. 12 years later, the terms “tablet” and “iPad” are almost interchangeable despite Apple not having released a tablet until 2010. Apple started work on the iPad a decade prior to the release with the idea that - if they released a tablet that did not require an advanced degree in computing - they would dominate the market.
>
> The video game industry at present is ripe for such an outside entry. Both the PS4 and Xbox One have truly awful user interfaces (even though Microsoft largely got it right by the end of the 360’s time and then inexplicably screwed it up with the One) and the games that run on them have a host of reliability issues - some of which are certainly due to the operating system and not the game itself. Should such an outside, Apple-esque entry happen prior to the Halo saga playing out, Halo will suffer an early death because the market for Xbox One games will rapidly deplete.
>
> Is that what you want?
>
> Unless consumers make it clear to the manufacturers that the current trend of releasing partially functional software and patching it later is unacceptable, an industry shakeup is inevitable. The game we all want to continue playing (along with our $600+ investment in Xbox One equipment) will die before its time. Complaints have a habit of spreading far and wide, and they do affect the manufacturer’s pocketbook. Word-of-mouth is what killed the second-year sales for Halo 4 (and it’s also what kept Halo 3 so popular for so long). Word-of-mouth will similarly affect the future MCC sales. That is the incentive that complaints provide.
>
> Many complaints are melodramatic or downright offensive (comparing the MCC screwups to domestic violence, for example), and those ought to be curtailed. As a community, there is no reason why we should not chastise the OPs of such complaints for their choice of analogy. But chastising them for posting a complaint does not help 343i or Microsoft. All it does is help reinforce the counterproductive strategy of releasing partially broken software and patching it later - a strategy that will ultimately undermine Microsoft’s (or Sony’s . . . or both) share of the market, with the concomitant consequence that future releases of Halo either suffer in quality or will not even be made.
>
> Defending 343i by pointing to their *post-*release efforts does not help the community. It does not help 343i. It does not help Microsoft. If you really love Halo and you really want 343i to succeed, you would not be defending them. You would be criticizing them loudly and clearly.
>
> They will not change unless we provide them a reason to do so . . . and perhaps not even then. But I, for one, am willing to try.
>
> [/soapbox]

Actually, in this case, they have a 4th option. ‘Wait for it to be fixed’. Arguably, the most sensible and respectful option.

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> Actually, in this case, they have a 4th option. ‘Wait for it to be fixed’. Arguably, the most sensible and respectful option.

That option is called “Ignore” . . . which we all know provides a massive incentive for them to change.

12

Clearly, you guys don’t seem to understand. Voicing your complaints, and outright INSULTING people in the most hostile and disrespectful ways are two different things. You have every right to complain, but NOT when it goes along the lines of “343I sucks, the game sucks, I wish everyone working at 343I would die of [insert horrible, brutal, or outright disgusting means of death here].”

I see that more than anything. I simply ask that people RESPECTFULLY complain. It avoids lowering the moods of 343I, yourself, and those that read your posts. (I keep trying to remain positive about the whole experience, and due to my curiosity, I must check and see what the current standings are on the forums. And as of late, I have involuntarily left the forums feeling angry,sad, depressed, enraged, disgusted, or let-down.)

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> 2533274974033696;12:
> Clearly, you guys don’t seem to understand. Voicing your complaints, and outright INSULTING people in the most hostile and disrespectful ways are two different things. You have every right to complain, but NOT when it goes along the lines of “343I sucks, the game sucks, I wish everyone working at 343I would die of [insert horrible, brutal, or outright disgusting means of death here].”
>
> I see that more than anything. I simply ask that people RESPECTFULLY complain. It avoids lowering the moods of 343I, yourself, and those that read your posts. (I keep trying to remain positive about the whole experience, and due to my curiosity, I must check and see what the current standings are on the forums. And as of late, I have involuntarily left the forums feeling angry,sad, depressed, enraged, disgusted, or let-down.)

Yet - though my post does all of the things you request - you still take issue with it.

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> 2533274876794799;4:
> Why dont they deserve hate lol? The multiplayer doesnt work for the time being which is understandable I guess. But the single player is a buggy mess. I beat halo 1 today and the game crashed immediately after the final scene. Not to mention the game skipped a whole level (343 guilty spark), you cant save and quit (the level just restarts from the beginning when you load it), and the ai doesnt follow you. This is just what ive encountered in halo 1 alone.

343 Guilty Spark IS in the game, the bug that skips it is only present in the Master Chief Saga playlist. Just FYI.

15

Actually 343 had little to do with the actual development of this game. If you look at the Wikipedia link, you’ll find that they had 4 or 5 separate teams to handle each of the games. This is why the game is a garbled mess. 343 simply doesn’t have the resources to work on both MCC and Halo 5 at the same time.

16

My opinion is this: you are allowed to be disappointed, and as this is the official forum it’s the perfect place to display your opinion. BUT if you’re going to come here and write angry, incohesive rants that hate on 343i- excuse me if I write you off as childish and not worth the read. And if you come here to announce to the world that you are done with Halo and 343i or that you got a refund… Nobody -Yoinking!- gives a -Yoink-. This is not twitter. In fact, seeing people like that sell MCC is only proof that the community is improving bit by bit, and will be much better by the time the servers are fixed.

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> 2533274796292609;15:
> Actually 343 had little to do with the actual development of this game. If you look at the Wikipedia link, you’ll find that they had 4 or 5 separate teams to handle each of the games. This is why the game is a garbled mess. 343 simply doesn’t have the resources to work on both MCC and Halo 5 at the same time.

I think an extra month or two would have made the game leaps better. It would have at least been playable at launch.

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> 2533274796292609;15:
> Actually 343 had little to do with the actual development of this game. If you look at the Wikipedia link, you’ll find that they had 4 or 5 separate teams to handle each of the games. This is why the game is a garbled mess. 343 simply doesn’t have the resources to work on both MCC and Halo 5 at the same time.

Regardless, it was 343i that advertised the functionality that the game would have and it was 343i that performed all of the integration and networking. Absolving 343i of responsibility for functionality because they chose to subcontract is like absolving GM of responsibility for their low reliability ratings because the parts that failed were built in Brazil.

19

> 2533274974033696;1:
> TL:DR is at the bottom of the page.
> Alright, I’ve noticed this forum has a few things. It has:
> -People posting bugs and glitches so that 343I can fix them(which is what this forum is MEANT for)
> -People complaining, consistently, as though each little post matters, and as though each post covers something that the others didn’t. (You’re delaying what you want to happen! Let 343I see BUGS in this forum, NOT your complaints about what your post is delaying)
> -People trying to defend 343I. Typically, these are usually very respectful, and logical, but on some occassions, insult those that have trouble with it.
>
> THIS post, is going to cover all the bases. This isn’t me being a fanboy, or a hater, this is me simply examing the situation, using logic, and common decency. This post is attempting to avoid all assumptions, insults, misplaced information, and opinions.
> Now that that is out of the way, I will begin.
>
> 343 Industries, has released a somewhat broken game. While this is bad for the industry, and bad for the consumers, they have quite a few logical reasons for this being the case.
>
> -343I attempted to put 4 previously existing games onto one disk, one menu, with essentially a fifth game tacked on - this is a major feat, and has not been done before.
> -Halo for the first time, is on Xbox One. A developer takes time to get used to the new functionality and capability of the new console. Perhaps a project as big as TMCC was not meant to be the first one.
> -This game was produced by multiple companies, while 343I tried to manage them. Certain Affinity, Saber Interactive, and Blur(all very big and respected companies, known by many) were attempted to be managed on one project, by 343 Industries, a company that was created specifically to take on the Halo franchise in 2009, and is still comparatively small.
> -343I attempted to release it as close to Halo 2’s original release date, while also releasing it on a Tuesday. While this was a dumb business decision, sentiment can only happen once, while fixes can be done at any time.
>
> This forum, is meant for bugs. Those that are simply complaining about the game, acting like 343I is truly a terrible company, are simply clogging up the forum, where if it wasn’t clogged by posts like that, perhaps they would notice bug-posts, and fix them.
>
> Getting a refund, while a viable option, is also a very strange one. You bought this game, not to play it THAT WEEK, you bought it to play it at all. Returning it, just gives you another two trips to take(assuming you wish to repurchase it later, when everything is fixed).
>
> A lot of people assume 343I is doing nothing, and doesn’t care. This is an assumption, and no real proof has been shown. However, proof has been shown to the contrary. They have given regular updates on the site, and on Twitter. A couple of their server-side fixes have improved the matchmaking experience. I have been able to find matches in 5 minutes, then play 3-4 more afterwards, while at launch, I couldn’t at all. There has been signs of improvement. 20% improvement, by 343I’s statements.
>
> While we should not regularly defend a broken game, we shouldn’t hate on it, either. The time for fixing the whole situation has passed, now, we can simply wait for 343I to respectfully fix it - avoiding hate and insult, will allow for a more positive view of the entire Halo community, as one person, can affect the views of based upon everyone.
>
> I understand that some people have managed to enjoy the game, while others have unfairly gotten one that simply will not work. Typically, some people will hate the game, others will like it, based on their own circumstances. Despite this limited and selfish view, It is important to point out that others are enjoying it, and you should be thankful for them - as you should be thankful for all of 343I’s efforts to bring this game to you, in a functioning fashion.
>
> We are all community members of Halo, we all care for it’s existence, and continued success. So, I ask that you respectfully appreciate others opinions, and stop trying to force your own defense, or hate, down another person’s throat - figuratively speaking, of course. Or, I hope figuratively, at least.
>
> 343 Industries,despite all the pessimism, and hate that they are receiving, is still attempting to fix the game, for you. They are a very professional company, and if even they have been unable to resolve these issues yet, there is a perfectly good reason for it.
> Meanwhile, you are probably sitting there, waiting for the game to be fixed. While this IS all you can do(aside from bug posting, but I feel that most bugs have probably been mentioned at this point), it would do good to be respectful about it.
>
> Despite I have never been a game developer myself, I do understand how hard it is, and how stressful it is, to have a currently troublesome product. It brings bad views upon Halo, 343 Industries, and gaming in general.
>
> A lot of you have chosen to word your complaints in a very offensive, and often inconsiderate way. I simply ask that you stop. Being so negative, hateful, and hostile about it helps no-one - not even you. Can you imagine how bothering it is to be near an angry person? It can often make you angry as well, and no-one enjoys the feeling of being angry.
>
> I know what your response will be - I’m just some defensive fanboy. While I am a Halo fanboy, I am not attempting to defend 343I. I am simply trying to be unbiased, logical, and un-hostile - as I would be for anyone, any company, and anything.
> I hope that this post has enlightened a few of you, and perhaps made you consider the whole situation for a moment.
>
> TL:DR : 343 Industries is at fault, but deserves very little hate, if any. [WARNING: You are not allowed to try to argue against this if you JUST read the TL:DR]

Nothing wrong with customers complaining when they’ve paid for a product that doesn’t work properly. Many issues beyond just matchmaking as well if you had bothered to read.

343i is not attempting to fix this game for us as some kind of favor, I’m pretty sure there is no reason we need to be grateful, this is a consumer product that they’ve already received our money for and they are obligated to deliver a product that works as advertised.

As far as playing it in the first week goes, with the list of issues it’s going to or more accurately already has taken more than a week. The stack of issues is so high that it’s going to take a very long time for them to fix.

I’ve been a fan of Halo for a long time but I won’t defend what happened here. I don’t think there is any way they didn’t know how broken it was before they launched it.

Anyway, when they fix it I’ll play but for now I think I’ll just put it down for a while and play something else.

No hate, but it certainly has an effect on what I think about 343i

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> 2533274971476153;18:
> > 2533274796292609;15:
> > Actually 343 had little to do with the actual development of this game. If you look at the Wikipedia link, you’ll find that they had 4 or 5 separate teams to handle each of the games. This is why the game is a garbled mess. 343 simply doesn’t have the resources to work on both MCC and Halo 5 at the same time.
>
>
> Regardless, it was 343i that advertised the functionality that the game would have and it was 343i that performed all of the integration and networking. Absolving 343i of responsibility for functionality because they chose to subcontract is like absolving GM of responsibility for their low reliability ratings because the parts that failed were built in Brazil.

So, it seems like his defense of 343i is that they’re small and simply unable to do a project of the caliber they promised?