Will the numbers keep dropping? The answer is yes. The why is that this happens to literally every single game post-launch. No developer can stop this from happening, though I would say that if the game dropped with the Campaign, MP, functioning customs with browser, and Forge on day one I doubt it would have deteriorated as fast.
Regardless, I wouldn’t sweat it, and neither should they. A large drop off was inevitable.
Most games don’t lose well over half of their initial playerbase within a couple of weeks, however.
Its comments like these that keep cropping up and need to put down, at last count even with Epic handing out free games and buying exclusives, over 75% of the PC market is on steam.
All other comparable AAA F2P games are also on there own store front, making the argument mute because the games we compare too will also have players on other store fronts too, they will also be significantly less than steams, meaning we can use steam to infur what a majority of the PC community is doing… because an overwhelming majority are playing on steam and not anouther launcher.
It was a joke, Chris. Did you not see the emoji?
Yea hard to ignore the drop off. 3rd most played on xbox supposedly, was 1st for those first days. Game clearly isn’t good enough to keep those players one way or another. I think the gameplay is more than good enough to hold its own and keep people playing but that’s not enough apparently.
Any maps from the first 3 Halo’s…Halo Reach on are just not fun. Exclude any Bloodgulch or Vallhalla maps and veriants.
Good God. This thread has some of the dumbest posts I’ve ever read.
Halo MCC did the exact same thing on Steam. Same with Call of Duty. Same with Battlefield. This is par for the course with shooters.
I think the SBMM is the biggest problem. It’s WAY te weak. Almost all games i get are incredably one-sided, because almost always 1 player is way more skilled then everyone else and completely ruins the game for everyone. Even i are getting demoralised by this. Even on the team with that relatively extremely skilled player people are quitting halfmatch, because they feel they have no real input in the outcome of the match and lose interest.
Now I feel like an idiot, but nothing much has changed there.
Considering the game was an xbox exclusive game up until pretty recently, I dont think steam charts alone are representative of the Halo community.
Also destiny isnt exactly the best thing to compare to halo. Destiny is more akin to an MMO whereas halo is not at all. I know they are both FPS, but really its a different audience altogether that consistently plays destiny. Compare the numbers in halo to those of call of duty or battlefield for more genuine comparison.
Launch hype goes away plus some issues just wont be fixed fast enough for people. but yesterday on launch it was 4th again. being in the top 100 games on steam is good in any capacity. most console-centric games don’t even see the list and maintain a steady population of players… Also pc is fragmented from where you get your game. Its via the ms store directly, or through the xbox app, or through the game pass and then you have the option to play on steam. I for one was playing MP on steam and now I play on the Xbox app because the discount as well as that’s where a campaign is free at… why would I stay on steam? but I do count as a “lost player” in your eyes but me and all my buddies that did that are still here. i know people left, but what I’m saying is steam charts are not a good measure for a multi-platform launch, namely one that’s massive on console.
I think the server desync issues are screwing up the SBMM. I will get demolished some games because shots don’t register and other games I have good connection and perform much better.
A lot of it has to do with people lacking standards and letting the developers get away with half -Yoink!- launches. I mean there are already people here saying they’ll add forge, co-op, More playlists later and that’s the issue. They’re ok with half -Yoink!- stuff and even paying for it. For the people who take it seriously there is no later as they’ll move on, and that’s the industry missing out on potential buyers. The reality is a lot of people don’t take much to please, they’ll gladly eat up slop lol.
Infinite is the first halo I haven’t bought day one and I have no intention of buying it in the future, 343 has already had so many chances with Mcc, halo 5 and now infinite to show me they can justify me buying and they just aren’t. I’ll just watch the act man play through the campaign and I guess I’ll wait and see if the next halo game improves 
There’s a ton of other games that’ll keep me busy. It’s just a shame to see this franchise fall so far and lose my interest.
That happens to everybody. That is no excuse of this horrible matchmaking system.
Just now again a dude in the oppo team that goes 31-4!!! (in slayer). And this kind of BS is already happening in almost every match i get. THIS! is why most people quit halfway the match. No one wants to play crappy matches like that. Not if it’s in the oppo team, not if it’s in your team (because he’s just stealing everybody’s kills at that point). There is just no fun anymore in this. I now only play MP for the challenges and after that i refuse to play anymore untill the new week arrives.
Well, I haven’t touched MP for a couple weeks and I hve no intention to until they fix the servers and the progression. People I talk to are just tired of lack of
●Lack of Modes
●Server issues
●Progression still feels like crap as the challenges are exhausting
I don’t really care about Infinite being the number one most played game or whatever as long as I can find matches and I’m not worried about the future of this game.
Who should care is 343 and Microsoft. They really need to take a hard look at why the player count is dropping and personally I think it’s because they’re bringing all the worst elements of modern gaming to it. Battle Passes, Overzealous SBMM for quickplay and BTB. Live service structure that starts out as all live services do by under delivering on the multiplayer side of things from a content standpoint.
Another thing to consider however is the Free to Play aspect and how many of the people who initially played this game when it launched, did not care about halo and were simply checking out the free game with a big name behind it. I bet this drastically boosted the player count over what it would have been if the game had been the standard of having to spend money to play the game
Interesting to see this trend.
I honestly don’t play it anymore bc it started getting boring and below is why. This is just my personal opinion.
Let’s force players to crossplay.
If their party is 3+ don’t let them choose input either
Don’t give them that many customization combinations and options (even though we had it right w MCC)
Let’s make the progression system way worse than any other halo game
Let’s sell HCS armor sets at $10 but make sure players can’t use a single thing in the battle pass to customize those armors.
Let’s make sure players don’t have that many game playlist and maps even though halo games always had different game modes and plenty of maps.
Let’s make items in the store super expensive - how about $10 for pineapple cosmetic grenades?
Like what were they thinking? I started playing Halo CE when I was 15 and never seen anything like this.
The only thing I can give them credit for is the gameplay.
Well, how could we expect the population to do anything but die off when the game is riddled with problems?
The core gameplay is riddled with problems like
I could keep pulling from my long list I’ve got compiled in a doc, but you get the idea.
Of COURSE this game is dying already on Steam, because many MANY of the experiences Halo is known for besides campiagn aren’t available. New players trying the series for the first time are going to run out of steam (pun intended) very quickly because there’s such a lack of Halo to be played here.
And by the way, I’m not mindlessly hating the game. I think the campaign is on par with the original trilogy so far, and I think with all issues ironed out, the multiplayer gameplay could be actually on par with Halo 3.
Friday december 10: 124 588. As predicted the campaign launch gave a slight boost for a little while. Will playlist will further improve these numbers?
Friday december 17: 75 897. Oof.