The problem with Infinite (overall) is that the market and expectations have shifted already. So we can bring up Apex for example, but the big difference here is that Apex has a more compelling loop (class based, BR, RNG, etc.) so even using that game as an example its difficult because I cannot imagine Halo having that same kind of resurgence.
One could make the argument that the core formula, the ‘bones’ of the series as it were, is simply not good enough by today’s standards.
As long as I’ve been playing games, if I’ve learned anything, is that the communities pessimism is boundless, and its long term effect is nearly meaningless.
Games as a whole are largely judged by what they are in that moment in time (which makes sense). Especially now with service style games (and free to play games).
While I agree a few maps aren’t going to cause the playerbase to boom. The long term potential is there.
New maps, forge, co-op, more lobby diversity, a battle royal style mode, re-balance to aim assist, etc. could all cause a massive surge to the player base.
I mean CS:GO went from being a complete failure (where people were playing Source over it for the first 2 years), to now being the most popular game on Steam. And that was largely, and almost exclusively due to 2 things: 1) going F2P, and 2) Making tweaks to how the game played, to be more like source.
I think a large part of that would also be the skin system that generated people millions of dollars, hell people didn’t even play csgo yet owned the game for gambling skins alone.
One of my friends played skin roulette and bought a used car for $4000 from it…
See, you can have expensive cosmetics if you have a player community market. Otherwise red and gold is more expensive than purple and carbon fiber because ‘reasons’.
Anyone else getting a “Remain calm! All is well!” vibe from all these 343DF posts?
We were meming the “this is fine” dog months ago, and now I’m starting to see that attitude unironically.
I think drip fed is OK, as long as the base is solid it won’t drive people away (unfortunately Infinite’s base is a bit too rocky). It certainly isn’t bringing large parts of the population back though, that’s for sure.
You say that, but…
FFXIV and CS:GO enter the room.
How did you come to that conclusion?
The game isn’t “fine”. It clearly has a mountain of work to be done to get it to where it should be.
The only point being that I don’t have to pretend that only 12 people are playing the game for the above to be true.
Plenty of people are still enjoying what currently exists.
It’s not good enough by today’s standards. There is no innovation. Everything in infinite has already been tried by other games and halo itself. It’s boring and bland. It’s the reason why I liked Halo 5 because they tried something new. I wouldn’t even care if it wasn’t Halo 5 again aslong as it was new refreshing gameplay
I feel similar, but sadly that isn’t a recipe for making a successful game (at least in the AAAA space).
Fortnight, CS:GO, MOBA’s, MMO’s, sports games, CoD, etc. are all popular because they are so safe. They create something that is familiar, and that familiarity is what keeps people playing.
Most innovation comes from indie games, and they also happen to be the games that sell the worst.
I enjoyed halo 5 as well, but a large part of the community dislikes it because of it being different. Which is exactly why the immediate reaction to H:I was so positive. It’s what the clear majority of players wanted. People just want more of it.
Haha I don’t mean to be condescending, but have you ever thought it could be because forge hasn’t been released yet?
These same dedicated forgers we’re on in the last game. They don’t miss a halo. Same as me. I don’t miss a halo either but this halo ain’t it and it shows in my friends list. I only referenced them because it’s a giant community.
I agree the game is lacking… but I can imagine when forge is released. Those from your community will return.
They will. I will as well. Let’s hope forge turns out great
Halo 5 multiplayer is beyond better. For a plethora of reasons. Even today the most competitive highest ranked halo players will almost entirely agree… the sky isn’t falling YET.
Dead, I respect you but you’re moving the goalposts a lot. Halo: Infinite is far from dead but you’re dissatisfied and angry with it.
Just say that, honestly.
This is true. Many competitive people say so. But apparently we don’t matter to the vast amount of casuals
The way you phrased this is telling, imo
Kind of a strawman, isn’t it? It’s more than 12 people, it’s thousands that are continuing to play, but you picked an absurdly low number as an example.
The fact is, the player count dropped off hard, this is not the first time this has happened with a 343i release, and 4 and 5 never recovered after they had this happen.
So yeah, a lot of your comments do read as “this is fine” to me. There’s a good chance that the game gets better eventually, but I think it behooves us to recognize that this goes beyond “There’s lots of work to be done”. The game is in trouble.
I mean it should be obvious that it was an embellishment, not a straw man.
The data I directly refuted was the mountain of people that have been, and continue to use stats from Steam as if it’s all the data. And ignoring all other data because it didn’t align with the Steam data. The entire point being it’s not a dying game, its not thousands, we are talking millions of weekly players. And one of the most played games on Xbox, that’s only competition are the other juggernauts in the business.
Most all games playerbases fall off hard, general even more so with F2P games. That’s beside the point. The issue is, has Halo’s player base fallen off so hard that it’s not considered a success next to past Halo’s? And the answer now that we have the data, is a obvious no. It’s doing incredibly well. And is one of the most played games on Xbox, even in its current state.
The real issue is that everybody knows that Halo Infinite has the potential to outperform not just past halo’s, but outperform most every game released. And THAT is the standard that people are truly comparing against.
They don’t care if millions of players play H:I every week. They want it to outperform the juggernauts that exist today (or go toe to toe with them). And we all know it would be possible if the game was complete.
But that just isn’t the reality we live in.
The reality is that the game is doing very poorly on Steam for incredibly obvious reasons. We have mounts of data and player trends on PC showing every reason under the sun not to play on PC and with KB&M. But that obviously doesn’t apply directly to the Xbox player experience. Which has been far better. So the fact that millions of players continue to play isn’t surprising.
Which is why my criticism is just pushing against this outrage culture that we live in. A game can both be doing relatively well, while also having exponential room for growth. Which is literally what the current problem is. And that this idea of “the game is in trouble” is a massive exaggeration.
The game has made hand over fist, and is backed by one of the largest businesses in the world. If MS funded 343 to fix MCC, it almost goes without saying that they will do the same with H:I. And I would argue H:I has a much larger footprint and future potential.
The game is nowhere close to being in trouble. Is it worth playing? that is what each player is deciding for themselves. But we obviously have a ton of content in the pipeline that hasn’t been finished/released. So until we get our hands on everything that should have been included at launch, it’s just silly imo to continue to exaggerate as if the game is about to have the plug pulled, and have all funding pulled.
Once forge, co-op, more maps, rumored BR mode, etc. are all in the game, and the game truly enters its “service” stage? Sure, if the game at that point still struggles to keep a player base I agree. But I have 0 doubts that it will at the very least get to that stage in the next year or two.
Common, there’s no need for that, reel it in.
I’m apart of the iforge community
gee whiz a community formed around forge is offline when there is no forge?
WHAT A SHOCK
Shoulda thought that one through a little better