…and why we should abandon the MCC.
There are several ideas for what should happen now as far as a Halo 3A and Classic Halo gameplay is concerned. Many I keep hearing and I just don’t agree with. So I was going to respond to these ideas and give the reasons why I think they wouldn’t work, and build up my case for why a stand alone Halo 3A and dropping the MCC is actually still a good idea.
Add Halo 3A as DLC for MCC, oh and while you are at it, fix the MCC so that it works.
First off, as far as 343i are concerned, the MCC does work. And in all fairness, it does. The problems with MCC aren’t that it still have huge matchmaking bugs that prevent games. Even though some still have issues here. The problem is that the launch itself and the design of the game was so bad that it drove off everybody who picked up the game to revive the games.
Cross game playlists: This alone, the single feature, selling point, and key feature to the design of the collection is what caused the problem. Some players picked up MCC for Halo 2, some for the new Halo 2A MP, some for Halo CE, others for Halo 4, and then a huge portion did so for Halo 3. Instead of the community coming together to celebrate 1 game and enjoy that experience, we all dove in for different experiences and expectations. Then when the game couldn’t provide that experience in a consistent manner players gave up. “Fixing” the MCC just couldn’t happen because even with all bugs squashed, this infuriating design would still strangle the game to death.
Split the playlists: Wouldn’t work. We’ve already lost far too many players. I constantly play against the same players every week. That sort of low population completely breaks any ranking system, and it’s extremely frustrating for low level players constantly going up against players they know will just run over them. Again, the very design of the game, and its bad reputation is enough to make sure we won’t ever see those players again. Even if playlists were split.
Customisation and reward system: MCC has an extremely weak unlock and reward system. EVen if Halo 3 was to be added to MCC, 343i would then have to redesign the way that armours are unlocked, or just stick with the current model of “all armours unlocked from the start” Something that is at odds with Halo 3, because part of the fun was unlocking an armour piece and then showing it off in game. Another issue if the full body suits. It was awesome in Halo 3 to be able to mis and match and create your Spartan. None of that exists in MCC. It is another way of breaking the experience. Again, the way that MCC was design breaks the game. Which would force yet another huge rewrite of the game.
Game versions: Halo CE and Halo 2 used the PC versions, and Halo 3 and 4 used in-updated versions. 343i would have to have the original games ported, and upgraded. They would basically have to completely port two new games over to the Xbox One to actually fix the MCC. That’s a lot of work.
Paid DLC: The community is so low that no one will purchase DLC for the game. DLC only works for games that have large active communities. Either everyone has to get the content for free or we’re going to end up with most people still running around with an unfixed version and then an even smaller portion of players who have this fixed version. Then there’s the whole issue and uproar that trying to charge for a piece of DLC that fixes their broken game? They might as well shoot themselves in the foot for the amount of good it will do them.
After all this, and after all this extra work, some of which may not actually work in the end. The bugs and design issues may still exist. All this work would end up being purely for the gamers who already bought the game. 343i and MS would see no extra return on investment. The players who might still buy MCC, don’t own it and don’t understand the extent of the damage done during the collection of these games. By acting like it’s fixed they actually get players to buy the collection. By “fixing” it they admit to everyone it’s still in an extremely poor state and the players that benefit from it won’t pay another penny for the game.
Releasing a new Classic Halo or making Halo 6 more classic.
I am actually all for this, but not right now. 343i have created a situation where they’ve set up classic Halo to fail. Between, Halo 4, MCC, Halo 5, and 6 years of “returning to Halo’s roots” a new game that “returns to Halo’s roots” will be met with a resounding “meh, yeah right”. It would take several games for 343i to earn that trust, and build back up that community.
A stand alone brand new title: A sub series of games that cater specifically towards Classic Halo would have once been a great idea, but now you have the prospect that it would either compete with 343i’s other Halo games, and eat in to not just the sales and of the title, but also the REQ sales. I think 343i would be very weary about hurting their own profits like that. The other prospect is that this new title would also be littered with REQs. Then you have to question what game modes are going to be added in to support these, and how classic the title would actually end up. With all this comes to the full budget needed to pull it off.
Halo 6 with classic gameplay: 343i have defined their career as the Nu-Halo guys. For their games to all of a sudden revert back to classic would be met with outcry from those would are won over by the flashy but shallow mechanics. 343i would be risking losing those initial sales from the guys who buy the title to tide them over until COD releases. It’s a huge risk to take before 343i has earned the custom of the players who would play a more classic game. Take Doom for example. It was actually really fun, but on consoles Doom does not have that reputation for being a strong MP experience. It doesn’t have the attention of consumer as a title they should try out.
Community: Halo has the potential to attract young and old, hardcore and casual, in a way that Doom doesn’t, but 343i’s push for Halo has definitely made sure it does not have the attention of people outside of the hardcore gamer. 343i left the door wide open for COD and Destiny to claim those gamers, and they need something to get them back before they commit to doing so with the main title. They need to do the ground work, to show players what they can do, and how fun it can be, and that they are 100% committed to delivering that experience. Without gamers passing it off as marketing for the 4th time.
Why a Halo 3A can do that.
I’m running out of space and I don’t want to have two posts to finish this, so let’s make it quick.
Costs: A Halo 3A would be fairly cheap to produce compared to a fully funded brand new title. There would be a lot less risk vs the reward.
Reputation/Community: If done right 343i would earn back some trust, and can start building up a dedicated Halo community again. Meaning players would be more likely to spend money on a brand new Classic title.
Halo Collection and other classic titles: By releasing Halo 3 as a separate title it paves the way for the other games to be released, giving Halo CE, Halo 2 and Halo 2A the attention they deserve. It also gives the community the chance to play these games properly. It also opens the path to doing the games right. With full customisation, with proxy chat, emblems, unlock/reward systems. If nothing else it gives them the chance to be faithfully ported rather than frankenported.
I have more details here.