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> Having a “ten year plan” is pretty empty promise given the uncertainties of development and player reception. Any possible plan more than a year or two out(and even that is pushing it) is nothing but a bare outline that could change or fall apart in an instant.
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> Given 343’s track record between Spartan Ops’ lackluster execution, the MCC disaster(which had left for dead until they needed something to market the X1X), and Halo 5’s post launch support consisting mostly of content we used to expect out of a Halo game at launch I can’t imagine how anyone could give them the benefit of the doubt regarding any long term support for Infinite.
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> A truly great, content rich game doesn’t need to make lofty promises of support because it will either become self-sustaining without developer involvement or it will be in the Dev’s best interest to support it long term because of the game’s popularity.
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> I’m incredibly leery of any dev trying to tout years long support and roadmaps before their game has even released(or after an underwhelming release) given many of the recent high profile examples we have had. Square Enix just posted a big loss on an Avengers game which should have been the easiest layup of all time. But hey why build a more traditional action game with with the brand recognition of one of the biggest movie franchises of all time when you could build a dreary “live service” game where the Hulk needs to hunt around for loot…
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> Then we have Anthem vanished off the face of the Earth. Fallout 76’s continued support seem is more akin to Halo 5 where they are adding the actual Fallout to their Fallout game. You have the odd instance of a miraculous turnaround like FF14 a Realm Reborn or Rainbow Six Siege managing to persevere, but again it was only after 2 years before it ever really took off again. Why should anyone stick around and wait months or even years on the chance that a game might get good eventually?
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> That all being said I would love for 343 to surprise me, but given the way that 343 and the industry at large has operated the last few years, touting “10 years of support” is more worrying than encouraging. Combined with the decision to go F2P and the radio silence, I am very worried Infinite multiplayer is going to be incredibly bare bones at launch.
pretty much this. i was thinking of writing something like this, but it is already written.
the 10 years promise is an empty marketing gag. if the game is successful it maybe supported 10 years, but if not it will be dropped within a year and all people would have bought were empty promises. and even if it is successful enough, i highly doubt it would have a 10 year lifespan. to many uncertainties and also depending on the definition of successful. with everything we know so far, the definition is something like: “how many MTs can we sell”.
i don’t get the feeling that 343i wants to (or is allowed to by -Yoink!-) to make a good game, they want (or have to) make a marketplace for MTs. i more and more get an anthem, avengers, fallout 76 and early destiny vibe from this game. i also believe that destiny will be the only franchise with this promise to stay around, bc they were more or less the first ones with this kind of game and every copycat will die off very fast, like medal of honor or all the other exact CoD clones did. (and even destiny strayed away from their original promise)
and i don’t think it’s a halo problem, i think it’s a microsoft problem. looking at the -Yoink!- games we can clearly see a behavior of chasing trends in monetization and the goal of making a good game is secondary. in recent years the focus is shifting a bit towards making a good game again, but there is still a heavy (primary) focus on selling MTs. and the funny thing is, that they are not just chasing is, they are even far behind, so that they come forth with their shady monetizations way after these kind of practices have been exposed.
and thats exactly what the 10 year plan promise is. a shady practice to excuse a working storefront, covered up by (in most cases) an unfinished game. if it’s not recieved well, they will point at the 10 year promise (like they did with h5 already kind of) and maybe never finish it and leaving the people behind, who bought into this promise (even if by now everyone should know better)
and get ready for season passes (of course, bc they sell very well) and a lot of pressuring of limited time items, bc they already testing it out and getting halo players used to it on MCC. only i expect them to be very expensive in infinite.
this 10 year promise is a giant alarm signal for this game. don’t let them sell us an unfinished game again with a “promise” which may or may not be kept, depending on the continuous money flowing or nor.
