The "We'll Add the Content in Later" Attitude

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

This attitude in the gaming industry needs to stop. Which attitude exactly? The attitude that some AAA game studios have when they release a game. The first thing done was paid DLC.It is obvious in some cases that paid DLC for things like map packs in many games besides Halo is just cut content that the developers couldn’t put in due to a lack of time.This has been going on for years, and we are used to it now. Its actually okay since the amount of base content in these games are enough to satisfy most gamers.

Then things took a turn for the worse with this “FreeLC” idea that was prominently used in Titanfall. When it launched, it came with 4 unique gamemodes. 4. No splitscreen, and no SP either. The game became a ghost town in just a few months. Titanfall added some more free game modes and other content after release, but in the meantime we were stuck with the 4 gamemodes. The point is, if you want players to be happy, you can’t add in the delayed stuff post launch, even if its free. Blind Fan: "But then the game will get delayed!!!" It doesn’t matter. Uncharted 4 was delayed, and it still sold very well. GTA 5 was delayed by months, and even about a YEAR for PC, and it still sold. If fans already wait an extremely long time for a game (Halo, GTA, you name it), why would people stop getting hyped about the game if its delayed for a few months?

My point is, most of us would have bought Halo 5, even if it had been delayed 6 months, as long as it is complete on launch. Launch is the only time that matters. Launch is when the critics tell people if a game is good or not. Launch is when the casual opens the game, sees lots of new and cool content, and decides to keep the game instead of just tossing it somewhere. Launch is where the most attention is. Everything that was meant to be in the game (besides actual new DLC) has to be at Launch.

This “FreeLC” concept of a barebone base game, then additional features later, while sounding nice to gamers, just makes the game look bad when its reviewed by critics, and as seen on this forums, never-ending backlash, along with population drops. Lets use our heads for a moment here, people. Imagine if the 6 updates, or rather just even the update that had Infection came with Halo 5 at launch. Many more people would still be playing, instead of putting Halo 5 on a shelf in December due to just not having enough options.

I will point out the real ways to do “Free LC”
1. GTA V Online Updates. The only mess-up here was Heists. Besides that, GTA V came packed to the top with content. It was amazing that the game received not only a full base experience, but also “FreeLC” that continues to this day in BOTH SP and MP. While it may be funded by players buying Shark cards, I never have bought one, so yay for me since its free.
2. The Witcher 3: While not as big on the amount of “FreeLC” as GTAV, this game still does it right. AMAZING base game, and easily one of the greatest RPG games of all time not only because of the amount of interesting content, but also in the fact it is a enormous step from Witcher 2. This game came with some 16 (I believe its 16) “FreeLC” that game developers would usually charge 1.99 for each. Then, the game also has 2 very excellent paid DLCs, which are worth the price.

Besides this, has anyone realized that Halo 6 will be affected by this “Free LC”? If 343 has been making content, surely the Halo 6 team was a little understaffed. This focus on Halo 5 6 months after launch may push Halo 6’s release date further. But if you ask me, they will pull another Halo 5 AKA release it bareboned, and add “FreeLC” again, just like in Halo 5 because they had to spend 6 months on Halo 5 when they could’ve spent it on 6

Anyways, 343, I am not a Halo Hater. I am just suggesting that the “FreeLC” way is not the way to go, as seen by both Halo 5 and Titanfall. Two very effective ways to deal with post-game content has been seen by other big games with lots of success. Many people here are criticizing the path 343 chose towards Halo 5’s DLC, but there is near-universal praise for the way Witcher 3 handled DLC. Again, I am not just hating for the sake of “its 343, lets hate.” I’m just pointing out that there are reasons why the “FreeLC” idea in Halo 5 is harming the game, and that other games have implemented better techniques in regards to DLC by having a very packed base game, ALONG with FreeLC.

2

Yeah, I think most of us would be fine with delays… It’s hard to argue against receiving a better, more complete product at the trade-off of a delay. Waiting really isn’t that hard.

3

> 2533274809541057;2:
> Yeah, I think most of us would be fine with delays… It’s hard to argue against receiving a better, more complete product at the trade-off of a delay. Waiting really isn’t that hard.

Exactly, now we probably are going to get a rushed Halo 6. People wait 3 years for a Halo… its not insane if we wait 3.5 years… lol. Really hope someone up there reads this, because I’d rather have a complete launch then wait 8 months for my real game to be finished.

4

If “FreeLC” as you put it is implemented into the next installment of the game. I hope ideas such as this will help shape how it is implemented. As I am sure even if microtransactions are present, there are good ways to do it and then there are bad. Though I’m sure there are also middlegrounds which can be made.

5

> 2533274817976264;3:
> > 2533274809541057;2:
> > Yeah, I think most of us would be fine with delays… It’s hard to argue against receiving a better, more complete product at the trade-off of a delay. Waiting really isn’t that hard.
>
>
> Exactly, now we probably are going to get a rushed Halo 6. People wait 3 years for a Halo… its not insane if we wait 3.5 years… lol. Really hope someone up there reads this, because I’d rather have a complete launch then wait 8 months for my real game to be finished.

I imagine H6 should arrive on or nearly on-schedule. This will be 343i’s second mainline title on the Xbone, so they’ll be working with familiar architecture. They’ll have a better understanding of what they can and cannot do, plus they’ll have the benefit of developing for a more powerful Scorpio Xbox One.

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> 2533274809541057;5:
> > 2533274817976264;3:
> > > 2533274809541057;2:
> > > Yeah, I think most of us would be fine with delays… It’s hard to argue against receiving a better, more complete product at the trade-off of a delay. Waiting really isn’t that hard.
> >
> >
> > Exactly, now we probably are going to get a rushed Halo 6. People wait 3 years for a Halo… its not insane if we wait 3.5 years… lol. Really hope someone up there reads this, because I’d rather have a complete launch then wait 8 months for my real game to be finished.
>
>
> I imagine H6 should arrive on or nearly on-schedule. This will be 343i’s second mainline title on the Xbone, so they’ll be working with familiar architecture. They’ll have a better understanding of what they can and cannot do, plus they’ll have the benefit of developing for a more powerful Scorpio Xbox One.

True, assuming they use the same engine from H5.

7

> 2533274817976264;6:
> > 2533274809541057;5:
> > > 2533274817976264;3:
> > > > 2533274809541057;2:
> > > > Yeah, I think most of us would be fine with delays… It’s hard to argue against receiving a better, more complete product at the trade-off of a delay. Waiting really isn’t that hard.
> > >
> > >
> > > Exactly, now we probably are going to get a rushed Halo 6. People wait 3 years for a Halo… its not insane if we wait 3.5 years… lol. Really hope someone up there reads this, because I’d rather have a complete launch then wait 8 months for my real game to be finished.
> >
> >
> > I imagine H6 should arrive on or nearly on-schedule. This will be 343i’s second mainline title on the Xbone, so they’ll be working with familiar architecture. They’ll have a better understanding of what they can and cannot do, plus they’ll have the benefit of developing for a more powerful Scorpio Xbox One.
>
>
> True, assuming they use the same engine from H5.

Don’t they always just modify and improve the previously used engine?

8

Honestly I would prefer if h6 will have the same amount of content that Halo reach did. I mean halo reach had a -Yoink- ton of stuff to do

9

> 2533274809541057;7:
> > 2533274817976264;6:
> > > 2533274809541057;5:
> > > > 2533274817976264;3:
> > > > > 2533274809541057;2:
> > > > > Yeah, I think most of us would be fine with delays… It’s hard to argue against receiving a better, more complete product at the trade-off of a delay. Waiting really isn’t that hard.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Exactly, now we probably are going to get a rushed Halo 6. People wait 3 years for a Halo… its not insane if we wait 3.5 years… lol. Really hope someone up there reads this, because I’d rather have a complete launch then wait 8 months for my real game to be finished.
> > >
> > >
> > > I imagine H6 should arrive on or nearly on-schedule. This will be 343i’s second mainline title on the Xbone, so they’ll be working with familiar architecture. They’ll have a better understanding of what they can and cannot do, plus they’ll have the benefit of developing for a more powerful Scorpio Xbox One.
> >
> >
> > True, assuming they use the same engine from H5.
>
>
> Don’t they always just modify and improve the previously used engine?

Apparently the base engine for all Halo FPS games is the same, so yes. Even if they initially claimed Halo 5’s engine was brand new, which 343 later told us was just a heavily redesigned version of the old engine.

10

WOW, really, it’s the same engine?

11

Love your post, like x100, but I think the real issue is the idea that all of this content, from 343i’s end, has been offered free-99, which is street slang code for, free. Free anything gets people hooked and demanding for the product immediately, Halo is no exception. How often have you heard someone demand for something that they’ll have to pay for vs something that comes without spending a single dollar? Its a cheap, and pretty crude tactic to bigger the pot of the game’s demographic, but overall, people who have been with the title since Day 1 can easily see through all of the BS.

12

> 2533274809541057;2:
> Yeah, I think most of us would be fine with delays… It’s hard to argue against receiving a better, more complete product at the trade-off of a delay. Waiting really isn’t that hard.

The problem is Microsofts has Halo spinoffs lined up for every year, be it a remake or a Halo Wars sequel or god knows what, and delaying one means launching two Halo games at the same year (market suicide) or delaying the next game with it (which also affects MS’s lineup and E3 presentations and eventually Xbox sales, Halo is their #1 brand).

I’m fairly certain Microsoft has a very strict schedule set for Halo (and all their big franchises, really) which devs like CD Projekt Red don’t have. We as fans and 343i as a company may want delays, and we can ask all we like, but in the end it’ll be Microsoft’s decision and they’re looking at a much bigger picture than we are.

So that’s your dose of hard truth for the day.

13

> 2533274817976264;10:
> WOW, really, it’s the same engine?

Very little of it would actually be the same at this point. The engine has gone through updates with every Halo release, and major reworks for Halo 2, Reach and 5. At this point you might as well call it new.

14

I think 343 caught enough heat for H5’s release… I would be very surprised to see them make the same mistake with Halo 6.

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> 2533274846978810;12:
> > 2533274809541057;2:
> > Yeah, I think most of us would be fine with delays… It’s hard to argue against receiving a better, more complete product at the trade-off of a delay. Waiting really isn’t that hard.
>
>
> The problem is Microsofts has Halo spinoffs lined up for every year, be it a remake or a Halo Wars sequel or god knows what, and delaying one means launching two Halo games at the same year (market suicide) or delaying the next game with it (which also affects MS’s lineup and E3 presentations and eventually Xbox sales, Halo is their #1 brand).
>
> I’m fairly certain Microsoft has a very strict schedule set for Halo (and all their big franchises, really) which devs like CD Projekt Red don’t have. We as fans and 343i as a company may want delays, and we can ask all we like, but in the end it’ll be Microsoft’s decision and they’re looking at a much bigger picture than we are.
>
> So that’s your dose of hard truth for the day.

Very probably true.

16

> 2533274797328974;14:
> I think 343 caught enough heat for H5’s release… I would be very surprised to see them make the same mistake with Halo 6.

I hope you’re right. They’ve caught plenty of heat, but have not suffered any financial repercussions (or minimal) so who knows.

17

I agree OP and even your exceptions are well put. Halo 5’s free DLC was just adding back cut content or content from previous games and it really killed my enthusiasm, especially since the req system has made so much money. Free DLC should only sweeten the pot and not be an excuse for launching a game early at full retail price. Waiting for a good game is way better than paying too much for a game with missing content and having to wait.

18

All in all, we still had to wait. Since most of the DLC felt as if it was integral to the core content, so it wasn’t like the players would be losing if the game was delayed.

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> 2533274804649077;16:
> > 2533274797328974;14:
> > I think 343 caught enough heat for H5’s release… I would be very surprised to see them make the same mistake with Halo 6.
>
>
> I hope you’re right. They’ve caught plenty of heat, but have not suffered any financial repercussions (or minimal) so who knows.

Halo 5 sold pretty softly according to reports and MS never touted sales figures. From this we can hypothesize that Halo 5 didn’t sell very well at least comparatively to other entries considering they had to include collector’s edition consoles and other extras in order for Halo 5’s revenue to pass Halo 3’s disc sale revenue alone.

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> 2533274831961512;19:
> > 2533274804649077;16:
> > > 2533274797328974;14:
> > > I think 343 caught enough heat for H5’s release… I would be very surprised to see them make the same mistake with Halo 6.
> >
> >
> > I hope you’re right. They’ve caught plenty of heat, but have not suffered any financial repercussions (or minimal) so who knows.
>
>
> Halo 5 sold pretty softly according to reports and MS never touted sales figures. From this we can hypothesize that Halo 5 didn’t sell very well at least comparatively to other entries considering they had to include collector’s edition consoles and other extras in order for Halo 5’s revenue to pass Halo 3’s disc sale revenue alone.

True, we don’t really know about the sales. They’re still making money from microtransactions and maybe aren’t as concerned with overall sales. I’d imagine they expected a drop-off in sales due to Halo 4 and MCC receptions.