When Infinite first dropped I could barely contain my excitement. Promises of seemingly limitless customization, anticipation of a groundbreaking campaign, reimagined and expansive multiplayer and forge that would see more options and a f2p player base to make it even fuller than ever before.
Then I played the game and saw how little was actually there. How buggy the gameplay was and how quickly the awe of the campaign transitioned into the realization that it’s an underwhelming attempt at an empty open world.
I saw how little customization was actually available and that which was made available was largely locked behind massive paywalls.
I saw how much fine tuning needed to take place and how unpleasant the online gameplay was. Clearly heavily favoring competitive gameplay which left more casual players (which consists of the majority of the overall player base) with the option of either playing online and getting wrecked or to just play campaign (if you bought the game/game pass). Although I tended to do well in multiplayer as I can get pretty competitive, I also really enjoy casual play on Halo on modes like infection.
I found a broken custom game mode with few features and little to do; very little appeal.
I watched as the devs continually misled us or refused to communicate hardly at all for quite some time. This leaving the player base frustrated and confused as underwhelming updates and unmet expectations continued to fill and surround the game. All with few answers if any to explain why Xbox’s flagship franchise had released as a beta even after extended development but had been marketed as a completed game.
After about a month, it became unquestionably clear that the promises didn’t mean anything and that, if the game was ever going to become what it should’ve been from release, it’d be another couple of years. So, as other games released that were actually completed and lived up to the hype, I moved on to them instead. Even replaying a few other gems. All infinite has to offer me is frustration and disappointment. Every time I boot it up to give it another chance I become agitated seeing how much potential was there and how little of it is or, likely, ever will be realized. So I close out the game, usually, without having played it.
Halo has always been one of my all time favorite games. I never much liked 4 or 5 (although Warzone Firefight was dope). But I had really high hopes for Infinite. This game just keeps crushing my spirit knowing what it could’ve and should’ve been. So it’s going to take a monumental set of improvements and additions to bring me back in. Even still, though, I won’t be forgetting how disappointed I was and am presently. How poorly they handled this game and it’s player base. How much they deceived us to get us to download it. And how they turned the flagship franchise into a petty cash grab.
You can fix the game but my trust won’t be so easily repaired. You can drop updates but convincing me that it’s worth trying again won’t be so easy to do.
As a developer, it’s up to you how you make the game. There’s always gonna be critics. But how you treat and handle a loyal and eager player base will make or break it. What you’ve lost is more than just potential for a great game. You’ve lost a generation of people who’ve been with you from the start. Who love the game as much if not more than you do. They’re the reason you still make Halo games. And I don’t know if we’re coming back.