How Halo's social experience died.. And how 343 can fix it

[@LateNightHalo]

:) Use code POGLNGMAY16 for up to 16 FREE MEALS + 3 surprise gifts across 6 HelloFresh boxes, plus free shipping at strms.net/LateNightGamingHelloFreshMay

[@jacobstamm]

POLYGAMY16

[@Xenomnipotent]

Ain’t no way that doesn’t say Polygamy 💀

[@neoluna1172]

the sad part is, I think some of this stuff was planned, but cut for time. When you go to pick a map for custom games, you can see a VERY, VERY barebones start to a map sharing and popular maps system, but a combination of management not allowing another delay, over use of contract workers by management leading to a shoddy game under the hood thats a huge pain to work with, and now 343 being very undermanned, the actual devs, the lower level folks whop actuly but blood sweat abd tears into this game, are stuck in a rut with no quick or easy way out.

[@MetaITurtle]

How is this game free if we all spent more money than ever before on a game? Like I've spent way past 60$ now. Don't worry I learned my lesson

[@UniUnknown]

They won’t add a player friendly progression system to continue BP sales as much as I want a classic progression back it simply isn’t feasible.

[@wayne0075]

Its almost like the thing keeping halo alive wasn't the brand itself, but rather the cult following of dedicated fans that could do practically anything with the tools halo provided for them. And its almost like launching the game without any of those tools, and cutting off ways for the community to interact with each other in game is going to hurt the game more than help. But hey, its free to play right? That definetly wasn't a move Microsoft pulled just to inflate player count and make it look like their game is more alive than it actually is.

[@Beibok]

Yeah they also made it free to play so they could monetize it like a mobile game, knowing full well that all the hardcore fans would still pay full price for the campaign. It's honestly so frustrating. I actually can't believe we've reached a point where I feel nostalgic for the REQ system. At least with that system you could unlock everything just by playing, and there was no fomo.

[@revanamell1791]

Infinite is still making money. Financially it's succeeding and that is the only thing that matters.

[@joanofsharc]

@@revanamell1791 That's the thing, it's going great (for 343 financially) right now, but the moment the cult following gets bored of the game, no one will be talking about it anymore. And once your playerbase starts *only* lowering in size, that's when there's a problem, which is coming soon I feel. At some point their only option *will* be to completely rerelease the game, or at least completely overhaul the monetization and multiplayer dynamics if they want to keep their players from just leaving halo or moving to MCC. The show has inspired a ton of those players to leave, and it has inspired barely any new players to join.

[@nickm5419]

@@Beibok Always loved REQs

[@revanamell1791]

@@joanofsharc they've been doing the same shit since Halo 4. If it was going to happen it would have by now.

[@who_be_dis8356]

343's inability to do... well... anything is just so damn astonishing to me.

[@Hadgerz]

They stripped content that previous games had. They stripped multiplayer game modes, campaign game modes, restricted enjoyable game modes to 'special events', designed free battlepass unlocks in a way that would frustrate players and pressure them into paying to progress...and they kept the store rrrrrrrrrrrrrrreally well stocked with $20 armour colours through it all. I don't regret finishing the campaign in the first week, playing the multiplayer for one week, then putting the game down like 97% of the playerbase clearly has done. I was under the impression that SEASON TWO would be that big relaunch. It wasn't. And so the game continues to be ignored.

[@xrickel559]

that 1st UI you showed was so nostalgic and clean...god id love to see that become a reality.

[@oreon7907]

I remember the trailer "You will be able to unlock all the content through just playing the game"

[@logancole6000]

I just wish the game FELT better. The optimization on PC still just feels lackluster compared to many other games on the market. No amount of content will bring me back as long as aiming, the menu, the performance, etc. all suck.

[@arandomelite5448]

Honestly the game that comes to mind is destiny 2 vanilla, for the first year it was absolute trash but forsaken (year 2) was a great relaunch with so much stuff to do that it basically doubled content. it made the game great. 343 needs to nail a year 2 start off strong with, forge, custom browser, and a buddying up after a game system, give a button after the match do you want to stay in lobby, A for yes, B for no. As well as a lot of maps I know people love developer maps but I'd rather have a forged map every month than 2 developer maps every 6 months. To end on a positive note, with infinate 343 captured the mass audience there just wasn't enough stuff to keep them if 343 can make the start of year 2 of halo epic and give us so much stuff then people will return.

[@coltonboyd788]

This is like 343 4th or 5th failure game/launch

[@Aburuzzz]

I do agree that a relaunch of the game is a good move. Similar to no mans sky and Minecraft, whenever a game has a big content drop, it gets way more attention than just tiny updates every now and then.

[@druidsunionvods]

you put the perfect example for updates to strive towards in no mans sky for 343, I personally despise most competitive modes due to bad wifi and experiences in general but if they set up this decent framework, I might be willing to give online gamemodes a try while I pray for campaign updates

[@quorke]

Infinite definitely needs a relaunch. As much as I would like them to scrap the game and start anew, I know that 343 has a bad track record with that. The problem with a relaunch, however, is that 343 also has a decade long problem of neglecting feedback which as a result put Halo into the mess it is in today.

[@ScottThePisces]

This is honestly the biggest turn off from gaming for me, the lack of social experiences in modern gaming has really ruined it. Remember all the friends you'd make on Xbox 360 for instance, whether it's from partying up in Halo 3, or speaking in game chat. They didn't even consider the value of those abilities in Halo Infinite.

[@commanderkei9537]

Tbh I haven't made friends in gaming in a long time. You chat with someone, have a good time maybe, but then, you go separate ways after a match because the matchmaking doesn't carry over lobbies. It used to be that, you found a random lobby for a night, and so long as you didn't leave, that was like your little LAN party for the night, with people coming and going, and voices and personalities becoming more and more recognizable

[@zeliph]

Most people are on Discord communities anyway. Even when there is a in game lobby feature, like Splitgate, no one uses their mic for whatever reason. Also because people could get reported for being a dick and actually get banned for it, unlike the past.

[@mrdude1516]

I miss my halo squad. Some of them don't even game any more, but none of them will touch halo. And Im too poor to buy the games they play.

[@ZeRTO_13]

Nobody uses their mic or doesn’t have one or they’re in a private party chat. Halo infinite has a damn issue with the chat option being set to PTT or off.

[@ScottThePisces]

@@commanderkei9537 you'd play with someone or a group for a few hours, they'd send you a friend request and you'd be buddies for years to come; seems those days are over

[@machinesnow]

playing halo infinite right now feels like living in a house that's still under construction

[@samuelgiroux6819]

If Halo 1-3 & Reach were a fully furnished houses, Then Halo 4 was a shed advertised as a house, Halo 5 was a spacious cave advertised as a shed, And Halo Infinite is a mansion still under construction with nothing but a concrete foundation and umbrella to protect you from the elements. Oh, and 343 is charging you for that umbrella...

[@durandol]

@@samuelgiroux6819 But hey, you can pay more for different colour umbrellas...

[@jango7889]

a lot of multiplayer games feel like that now, i know it's already trend but god i hope this isn't a trend

[@isaaclai1636]

It feels like being sold a house with only the foundation built.

[@nubbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbin]

But a really fucking cool house

[@JakAttack]

I frankly was shocked by Halo Inf's UI, progression and other missing features. Me and my group had been playing MCC RELIGIOUSLY as each game was released onto PC. The progression system and the seasons there felt great, the file share system was worked in and functions pretty good, and finally the custom games browser was peak perfection for the collection. Me and my friends were constantly talking about all these additions and how good they were and how excited we were to see them in Inf because we all assumed that they were building up MCC to test the waters with what would work for Inf. 343 even said something to that effect when they released the "Fractured" Halo 3 armors based around knights and vikings. I was utterly shocked to see the state that Inf was in when it released, here me and my friends thought that MCC was a test bed for the new game and then it releases in this state. 6 months later here we are still...

[@nickguzman1734]

Yeah I thought it was a given that we'd get animated visors in Infinite like MCC... and was pretty shocked that everything is so dingy and plain

[@hakanflodin4555]

There is not enough ppl talking about the UI and all the menus The UI is laughably bad on almost every level. I saw a vid were 1 fan remade the entire UI on his own and it was simply beutiful

[@deepism]

That's exactly how it went for me too. The whole time I thought they were using MCC as a very clever way to figure out how they should structure the game. Imagine my shock and disbelief when Halo Infinite launched and it was the polar opposite of everything Halo MCC was. No Forge. No custom games. No matchmaking playlist mixer. No "unlock what you want, when you want" battlepass system. The complete polar opposite. It still shocks me to this day. They had all the hard work done for them, all 343i had to do was copy their own homework.

[@MetaITurtle]

I feel like they used MCC mostly for campaign/ Level design. It's very Halo CE/ Reach looking and plays like Halo 3/ Halo 5

[@LordKrobekishnuv]

@sly dankass I miss that so much, watching the billets tick away

[@SolarMechanic]

You've hit the nail on the head here. I am 100% willing to bet that when they finally launch Forge, even if it's amazing, it'll be completely useless because they won't have bothered also launching a custom game browser.

[@breaking3590]

Is it safe to say that this has been Halo's lowest point yet? It hurts to see my favorite childhood franchise struggle so much the past decade

[@Nikkerman]

Really I always thought that was some time during 5, at least right now we have a game that's got a good campaign

[@misterchef944]

Focusing on yourself & health is better than giving YOUR time & ENERGY to broken antisocial MICRO-TRANSACTIONS Next GEN CONSOLE GAME 343i CALLS HALO campaign 7.5/10 would be 8/10 but FOBS lackluster Campaign in general…having to grapple everywhere…& Multiplayer WE ALL KNOW…DESYNC

[@blizzardgaming7070]

6 years and they made half of the previous game, Fromsoftware spent 6 years making Elden ring and released a game and DLCs worth of content.

[@misterchef944]

@@blizzardgaming7070 ELDEN RING IS 💯 & I haven’t even played or heard of it but I know 1000 Times It’s had more coverage & hype & buyers than Halo Infinite especially now we STRUGGLING PLAYER COUNT # DONT LIE

[@misterchef944]

@@blizzardgaming7070 your right @ Blizzard Gaming

[@beastmode1915]

For me, all I need is a sizeable amount of PvE content besides the campaign. However I think this relaunch idea is really needed. We need to make sure 343 hears this

[@TSL73]

That’s what this game is missing. I want more PVE content.

[@TheNukaColaMan10]

@@TSL73 Honestly, 343 hasn’t had a genuine firefight mode…ever?

[@zero1487]

seriously! halo's enemy AI and encounters are just too good to not use more than just in campaign.

[@TSL73]

@@TheNukaColaMan10 they tried with warzone and honestly wouldn’t mind if they brought at least that mode back

[@mautastic6020]

@@TheNukaColaMan10 there was a firefight mode in halo 5 warzone, it was more objective based rather than wave defense, but the downside was that the weapons and vehicles were locked behind loot boxes for the warzone game mode only. However, you could have all of those weapons and vehicles in forge and custom games.

[@HammyG_]

Honestly, I've given up hope on Halo and modern gaming as a whole. Infinite is the perfect example of everything wrong with studios/companies today. Why trust a studio that has blundered literally every release since its inception? If 343 were tasked with recreating Halo 3 from scratch (graphics don't even have to be 'improved' for this scenario), I don't think they could do it. 343 couldn't even recreate a 15 year old game, why is that? Meanwhile fans are remaking Halo CE inside the Halo 3 engine, remaking Halo in Unreal Engine, and so much more. Let's not even talk about the Halo TV show....

[@BigGainer98]

That remake your talking about was achieved by one person.

[@Fyre0]

What remake are you talking about? 😳

[@MakutaOfficial]

It's sad that this is Halo now.

[@utisti4976]

Same. I can't believe Microsoft created the worst developer of all time to work on one of the greatest IPs of all time. 😮‍💨

[@Jesushernandez-eu2is]

Aye' its really depressing

[@megaman37456]

@@utisti4976 To be fair it's not entirely the devs of 343's fault, it's the management of 343.

[@ThisisKyle]

It's sad that this is most franchises now

[@tr0n4556]

It probably should've been a red flag when we saw they launched the game missing old fan favorite guns. looking at you fuel-rod canon.

[@jmccann6735]

Still waiting for Brute Shot and Spiker 😔

[@user-73a]

Grenade Launcher and Spartan Laser😢

[@Outcastiid]

@@user-73a Spartan Laser sucks. Keep it gone.

[@World36599]

Og shot gun and halo 2 br

[@existentialselkath1264]

The challenge system alone has got to be the largest issue when it comes to pushing players away. If you play what you want to, just for fun, you get practically nothing. You have to go out of your way to do things you'd rather not do. The other main issue for me is sbmm. Instead of winning based on skill, you're effectively betting against the computer. You only win if sbmm underestimates you and loose is sbmm overestimates you. It's just not a fun experience. Not that winning even matters anyway, the challenge system being what it is. Thats without going into desync and all the problems that causes, which itself is often the fault of sbmm taking priority over ping.

[@Bloodborne-Hunter]

exactly, the progression system turned me and my friends away from this game truly a shame

[@ispgravy4233]

343 singlehandedly ruined halo. It’s laughable how awful at making games they are. Complete trash. 343 fanboys can make all the excuses they want. I don’t care if you call me a Bungie purist but all games up to Reach will be the only halo games I remember. Halo infinite is way too cartoony. People saying it’s like 3 are blind. Looks like fortnite 😂😂

[@skrublordnord69]

Agreed.

[@misterchef944]

100% my man but shills & INCELS will defend buying a color…I’m good I’m actually selling Xbox Series S Today guys sadly maybe in a couple months I’ll come back after I save & focusing on self. Maybe by then there will be DLC desync fix’s, better bet code etc but I’m good off Halo. MCC is still there but matchmaking is just a pure sweatfest :/

[@sirapple2406]

I’m gonna be honest, I’m one of the guys who’s no longer interested in Halo infinite. I’ve heard that Halo Infinite has very good gameplay, but as soon as I saw the first gameplay trailer (especially after all the trailers showing a return to form) along with their announcement of Halo Infinite being “live service” I personally lost my attachment to the series. Compound all that with the the absolutely horrendous launch state of the game, I don’t think I’m gonna come back to the modern Halo series. But, I hope for you guys still sticking around that this game will get a whole lot better. (Btw, these aren’t the only reasons, but if I’d start listing them all we’d be here till the heat death of the universe)

[@misterchef944]

I love the last sentence to prove your point lol but your 💯% RIGHT

[@Jesushernandez-eu2is]

Good decision, you actually didnt waste time in a cash grab

[@user-73a]

I could make a list of what Halo Infinite did wrong ... but it woud take 343 until the andromeda galaxy merges with the milky way to finally fix it

[@ChaseSeaborne]

Drip feeding content doesn’t do anything for me because it’s like *oh a new map?* I play it for a few hours then I get bored and put the game away again for who knows how long. A Halo Infinite 2.0 relaunch would most certainly get me excited to play the game again. Especially if it means I can play as an Elite in multiplayer again or duel wield. I hope 343 is paying attention here, this is what they should do.

[@burddog0792]

80% of the 'new content' is just cosmetics anyways.

[@Xchaze77]

100% right on the money. Relaunch is the only solution that can save this game! Articulated beautifully! Thank you

[@Kawasaki10rr]

Why relaunch it, its just gonna take them another 3-4 years to fix and add everything that was broken and wasnt there, they just meed to start on a new game but with different management, all management except Staten should be replaced bc theyre the ones that are to blame for this pile of garbage called infinite.

[@CountScotula]

Yeah, ever since I realized getting all of these features into Infinite was going to take years (not months) I started thinking they should freeze Halo Infinite as is and re-release whenever it's done as a brand new release.

[@josesosa3337]

Like overwatch 2?

[@notjack2491]

You know an industry is in decline when a game from 2007 launches with more features than a game in 2022

[@TheRageEnterprise]

The sky is blue, water is wet, fire is hot, grass is green, halo 3 was the best, halo 4 was trash

[@Oyebadumn]

Halo 5 came from the garbage, Halo Infinte angers my carnage.

[@misterchef944]

Giggity lol

[@jackcolson4745]

Halo 4 was the garbage thrown into the dumpster, and Halo 5 was the dumpster fire.

[@danshee5002]

Halo 4 wasn't trash but it wasn't good either

[@misterchef944]

@@jackcolson4745 💯😂😂😂😂

[@ffffff52]

I already said it in this channel (I think), 343 needs to find a magical cure for recovering an apathetic fanbase. I have been a fan since CE and I never fell off a Halo like this... Infinite is just not a game, let alone a Halo Game, it still feels like one never-ending test flight of the MP only with a constant "give money please!" reminder on most screens.

[@user-73a]

Imagine how bad a Halo Infinite is in order to make halo 5 to look good by comparison...

[@Puppy_Puppington]

Halo 3 was such a blessing. I didn’t think it would be the peak though :( so grateful I grew up in that era !

[@scorpio8963]

At the time I did legit thought it was the last halo. The aesthetics in the game is still holds up today.

[@user-73a]

Halo Reach objectively had more content, better forge and firefight tbh

[@sirmagnumcat4996]

@@user-73a agreed. I also prefer how the guns feel.

[@beeno3487]

Remember reach.

[@UniUnknown]

Armor colors need to go cross core. Events need to be returning, All items in the shop need to return and stay there, and they need to be able to bought item by item. Removal of weapon specific challenges, removal of game type specific challenges, and removal of back smash challenges.

[@me_Gustav]

They probably won't change the events/shop for a long time, because these things are designed to invoke fomo to keep players coming back every week. (not that it's working as well as intended btw)

[@UniUnknown]

Having events are alright but at least make it clear that they will return. FOMO just causes and enraged fan base which will only negative impact the game and sales. Also have all items for the shop always available would actually give them more revenue from all those who had missed their chance especially kids who can’t afford it on the spot.

[@me_Gustav]

@@UniUnknown I agree on the shop. There were some items like the Moa Assault coating for the MK V (B) core that I feel were never even released, and I'm not sure if it will ever appear in the shop again. However, I do think that the events should stay timed as they are now. Makes earning an event core more special to show that you were around during that season. I also feel like they have been transparent enough about how events work, and when they appear.

[@UniUnknown]

@@me_Gustav wasn’t released but there is better color that’s similar I use named Forgotten Sands but if you didn’t buy it from the Yoroi Fracture shop you’ll never have it. I highly disagree on that event statement that is completely a FOMO abuse benefit. No one is going to think better of you for having something they can never obtain.

[@me_Gustav]

@@UniUnknown Luckily I got that coating as well! While I agree with that last statement, all these events would eventually pile up. Maybe the passes themselves could stay and have mode-specific challenges, but it won't be feasible to have all of the actual events returning throughout Infinites lifespan.

[@MakutaOfficial]

I 100% agree that the game needs a complete relaunch. Maybe do just the battlepass stuff, or very MINOR things to the live game, but work ultimately to do a complete overhaul and relaunch of the title. It makes me think of Rainbow Six Siege when they did operation Health. It was a very long time, but ultimately it made the game after that SO much better.

[@Ian501st]

Thats a great example to use, and a great idea

[@BigGainer98]

Relaunch? No. Kill it. Gut it completely. No one is playing this shit. Fuck this game. It needs to die.

[@allenmitchell8993]

I know making games is challenging. I know 343i is given a hard time since it took on the responsibility of the Halo Universe. But... The fact that regular people, fans, content creators such as yourself, and others who aren't game developers but simply love Halo can see, understand, and realize where Halo Infinite's shortcomings are and already know the solutions that existed in previous games! It makes you wonder how just HOW, 343i missed the mark on so many things after so much time in development for Halo Infinite and how it is now taking so long to complete the game. I feel like the community isn't asking for the world of Halo Infinite but what has been the proven bare minimum that people have loved about Halo which is all missing.

[@CryoIsLazy]

It does not feel like halo without firefight.

[@ThatRandomGameDev]

All I can say is that if this games gameplay was not as good as it was I would of stopped playing a long time ago.

[@starplatinum2743]

it's not good, you would honestly have a better time playing destiny 2

[@poober8826]

@@starplatinum2743 lmao say sike

[@starplatinum2743]

@@poober8826 no really, destiny 2 is a way better game than infinite. If you want to have fun, you'd probably have a lot more playing that

[@poober8826]

@@starplatinum2743 I stopped playing both

[@starplatinum2743]

@@poober8826 ahead of the game I see...

[@Blade4952]

343i is doing their best. The problem is their best efforts are wasted by bad management who have kept their positions despite making bad call after bad call for over a decade.

[@UnitAlir]

343i is the management. 343i is the whole entity. 343i sucks. We have nothing against the minimum wage employees. We hate the company. It can't release anything correctly

[@Blade4952]

@@UnitAlir You can tell there is tons of passion for Halo at the company, but without good planning and direction passion alone just won't cut it. A real shame.

[@user-73a]

Halo Infinite is the worst release yet, no co-op? That was a feature in 2001...

[@Outcastiid]

They can keep blaming this phantom management but I don't buy it. 343i is incompetent.

[@UnitAlir]

@@Blade4952 Honestly, and I don't mean this in any way to be harsh towards you or 343i minimum wage employees, but I don't care if there's some people with passion at 343i. That's irrelevant to me. All I care about is 343i as a studio. Can they release good Halo games? No? A new studio must get the rights to Halo then. I don't care if any individual employees do or don't jump to the new studio. I'm just analysing the studio as a studio. How they've performed over the last decade. They suck.

[@dwtnugget5256]

I have no disagreements it needs a complete overhaul

[@TheKillercroc6942]

As a huge Halo fan, I haven't played the last two releases and have no interest in them. Halo 4 was pretty meh and killed my interest in trying out anything after that. Still replay the OG Halos games from collection, but it really does feel like what made Halo such an interesting game/story doesn't exist anymore.

[@Hedgehog1039]

This is pretty much me to a T. Halo 4 killed off a lot of my interest in continuing... However, I have played all other releases, briefly... I also still play the old titles though!

[@TheKillercroc6942]

@@Hedgehog1039 I never ended up playing 5, never had an Xbox One and it didn't come to PC. After 4, didn't feel like buying a One just to play 5, and most of what I heard from friends is that it wasn't that great anyway.

[@TSL73]

@@TheKillercroc6942 5’s multiplayer was alright but the campaign was the worst in the series.

[@TheKillercroc6942]

@@TSL73 Yeah, I'm all about the campaign & story over the multiplayer. If it is really that bad, sounds like I dodged a bullet by not playing through it.

[@Dubauabud]

343 needs to be disbanded and reconstructed from the ground up, they have had more then a decade to work on Halo and have failed horribly with botched releases and disappointing games

[@krimson8317]

That'll just take even more time away from the game's production

[@Gamenoob117]

The loading issue is the UI in itself. The whole UI is all real time rendering. The Reach/4/MCC had a simple art backdrop or .mov to ensure a simple and smoothe experience. Infinite's has a section of the campaign at the title and the boot camp base loading in. Season 2's update has made it worse cause it's loading more player models since the additional 2 armor cores (totalling 5 player models) and other weapon charms. The lack of a global progression system was passed up for the seasonal progression system for a more lucrative approach as well as the cash shop.

[@MrSaljstn]

I call this shit game development

[@117swordsmen]

after being a fan for 2 decades. I'm at peace. I'm ready to see halo just fade into obscurity and live with all the crazy memories that i have instead of hoping someday...the company with the horrible track record will stop having a horrible track record.

[@flavourruling2162]

Me too, I’m holding the wake on Friday to mourn my childhood

[@BlaineVincentIII]

I genuinely hope Joe and the rest of the team see this. Bringing Forge to the game will do a lot of good, but that good will be severely handicapped without social features that optimize the shared enjoyment of user created content and experiences.

[@TheTb2364]

I'm afraid they are all aware of these issues. It might however be impossible to tackle these issues. 343 relied heavily on subcontractors that are now gone. Add to this limited resources, priorities given to other things and unstable nature of the game. Theatre mode is perfect example. Even the features that were supposed to be there are hardly working because it is such a low priority that nobody can get around to fixing it

[@unsortedguy]

Yes, I think they should stop updating the game for a while. Take a year off if not more and release Halo Infinite. But that's never going to happen.

[@Oyebadumn]

Halo Infinite had a GIGANTIC potential, but 343 did a horrible job keeping up their promises. They're trying to keep the game's last leg by "expanding" the audience instead of focusing on the core audience. TT games clearly understood this, as for a feature in Lego Skywalker Saga, you can choose both mumble to talking mode. They kept both sides of fans actually together. Both Halo Infinite and Lego Skywalker Saga had the same idea of "old and new combined as one", but TT knew how to execute it right. I could go WAYY more into depth of it, but I think every KZbinr explained it so well.

[@Hadgerz]

They did a fantastic job keeping up their store, of course.

[@misterchef944]

I love how EVERYONE always says Has potential but here we have 6 years plus 6 plus months & we have to pay for COLORS tf did I pay 60$ for???

[@Oyebadumn]

@@misterchef944 343 took a horrible direction with cosmetics, I say huge potential because from the story, concepts, sandbox, etc., not the store as it is now and cosmetics as it is now.

[@SocialAutism]

So, we need a featured social mode. By that, I mean we need featured casual modes-- even a custom game browser. Restoring a sense of community is the first step in repairing Halo. I get no one wants to regress to a universal server browser, but it would work wonders for custom community experiences. Incentives are all nice and good, but it's not as solid a foundation as hoped.

[@javabird4168]

As someone who started with eldewrito the social aspect is what drew me to halo. Infinite definitely lacks that something i cant put into words.

[@andyaguilar488]

i really loved the design of the UI displayed!! i really miss the days of not having a menu that is in a menu that is in another menu and etc

[@Hedgehog1039]

I totally agree. It seems that through attempts to modernise most companies seem to create complicated, slow UIs.

[@aech_two_oh]

I just wish that 343 would take a page out of bungie's book. And maybe keep the UI at least similar to the feel of the MCC UI. When I went from Halo MCC to Infinite, the UI was like being punched in the face for how confusing it was

[@ianl1253]

Played Halo since 2009. Loved it ever since. But, I'm done. It's clear that the higher ups at 343i just don't care, I'm sure the employees themselves do, but it's not enough. I come home to chill and play Halo, not sweat heavily in Social. So yeah, I'm honestly just done with Halo. It's time to put the dog to rest for me. All I can say is good luck to new or old Halo fans. Maybe I'll come back in the future to see if it's still kicking.

[@johnbobtailsquib3290]

Hopes is, if 343 do takes this in consideration, they have to restart the game but also make sure the money people spend on isn't just taken away and they wasted cash only to restart again.

[@flakboy1000]

All my friends loved the game, but like them, I dropped it because we couldn't find any servers below 120 ping.

[@crunchypudding.9221]

I used to hate getting in Halo infinite but my two friends gave me two separate pieces of advice: "Stop taking everything so seriously, wind down" and "if you play without thinking about the battle pass you'll actually have fun" and I'm unironically having fun in gold 4

[@allman28]

Good for you man good for you

[@aech_two_oh]

Fr, some people need to take a look at what Infinite did good and stop focusing so much on the bad. I like Halo Infinite overall, but I would like to see forge and infection

[@jmccann6735]

Yes, correct. If you focus ONLY on the gameplay while in a match, you can have fun. As long as your gun doesn't jam, you don't phase through enemies, or you don't de-sync off a damn cliff. But here's the problem. As soon as the game ends and puts you back in the menu, you remember how bad the game as a whole experience is. No progression, no post-game lobby, no reason to keep playing, except if you're sick in the head like me and just have a need to be god-like in whatever the new Halo is. That is the only reason I play, is the dopamine hit of snipes and multi-kills.

[@crunchypudding.9221]

@@jmccann6735 interesting. Wanna play together? I agree with some of your points definitely but perhaps I could help you be less fixated on the problems.

[@zero1487]

its soo easy to focus on the bad because there's tons of it. But yes, when I block that out I still have alot of fun in this game

[@AmericanNEET8644]

This is one of those "Tony Stark built this in a cave with a box of scraps" scenarios. With how much money and how much time 343 has had they have always failed to deliver something bungie did a decade and some change ago. One could only imagine what would be possible if 343 had the same competency as golden age Bungie.

[@iKiwed]

I waited 6 years for Infinite, I can wait 4 more years for a good relaunch.

[@commanderwyro4204]

i came back to season 2 for FOUR games. realized nothing about the game was actually fixed and uninstalled the game again. huge shame and microsoft needs to do something about 343

[@megaman37456]

343 are a sub-branch of Microsoft, 343 and M$ are literally one in the same. What M$ needs to do is fire Bonnie Ross and Frank O Connor and replace them with competent managers.

[@commanderwyro4204]

@@megaman37456 correct which is why i said microsoft needs to deal with it. and soon. that whole company needs a remodel on how things are done

[@megaman37456]

@@commanderwyro4204 Not really. Just fire the shit management, get competent managers in there, let the devs do their own thing and stop giving them such shit deadlines and the problem will inevitably solve itself. We're never gonna get another game that hits like Halo 3, people need to accept this as a reality of the situation, no matter WHO gets put in charge, it's never gonna happen.

[@anastraykiwi]

While I haven't thought of it in this manner, I do agree that drip feeding content will get 343i no where, Infinite needs a big complete package drop for it to thrive

[@blackhood7200]

Wow, hearing about all this really makes me sad I never got to play Halo back in the day of the Bungie era. My parents never allowed me to play violent games til not long ago. I remember watching a vid on Halo 3's development and hearing all Halo KZbinrs say how it made their childhood and helped them make new friends on Xbox Live. I play MCC, but it will never be the same as the original servers, and it honestly just makes me depressed. It's like a childhood was taken away from me that I could have had.

[@holaaamannn]

It was a special time.

[@iXiClub]

You're the only one talking about this out of the several Halo content creators I watch, and that's a damn shame. Keep doing good work! Been playing this franchise heavily since CE, you're one of the better creators out there.

[@217adaptiveperspective]

You wanna bet the only reason Halo 4 was content complete was because it was basically a modified Halo Reach? It appears trying to drastically change the games each time like 343 did with 5 and Infinite is shooting themselves in the foot

[@megaman37456]

To be fair Halo 4 was content complete because the majority of Bungie were the ones who worked on it. They left between 4 and MCC, so they weren't around when MCC and H5 launched.

[@217adaptiveperspective]

@@megaman37456 ?

[@StevoStaple]

@@megaman37456 no?

[@megaman37456]

@@StevoStaple Actually yes. Halo 4 was technically Bungies last Halo game. While there were members of 343 working on it too, the majority of development was done by Bungie.

[@StevoStaple]

@@megaman37456 source?

[@DirtyBelter]

It's almost as if 343 is incompetent, and has been for 10 years.

[@SniperHawk57]

You absolutely nailed the “drip feed” section. I never thought about it that way, and the friends I played with who left, will absolutely be intrigued by a re-launch. Great point by you. Now I’ll give my thoughts on the game, and why my friends who aren’t diehard halo fans like I am left the game…. Love the FEEL of this game, gameplay is GREAT. But most everything else is below average. Maps (especially BTB), no working customs/theatre/forge, no progression, subpar customization… I’m sure I’m forgetting something like desync…but you get my point. OH and the PvP playlists…WORST OFFERING OF MODES EVER. It’s terrible. It’s not organized, and there’s so many modes missing. Campaign felt like a Chief spinoff. They skipped the “War for Zeta Halo” and just started at the end of it? Like what the hell, I would’ve loved to fight in a massive Banished vs UNSC war. But guess not. Campaign was fun for one play through, but Open World was boring and bare, as were the repetitive missions.

[@elpavino]

Halo already peaked with 3, it's time to move on and give other IP's a chance.

[@spat3305]

Smartest comment on this video. Halo infinite will never reach 3’s numbers. Not cause the games bad, but halo is outdated nowadays.

[@cb2818]

Extremely well said, great video. I think the soft re-launch is the way to go, but I honestly don't think 343 has it in them to pull that off anytime soon. I think the rumors that 343 are moving onto Halo 7 are probably accurate.

[@jackcolson4745]

I agree, but if 343 were ever to watch this video, I can't stress enough on specifying what *exactly* a _"Halo Infinite 2.0 relaunch"_ is. It's not a bunch of marketing with no delivery and more promises. No, it's one big content drop that adds ALL of the remaining content that makes a complete Halo game.

[@DGCpicturesEntertainment]

Infinite is in a sad state right now. I hope that they actually give me the game that they said they'd give me 2 years ago sooner rather than later.

[@Goji938]

It’s crazy how MCC is slowly becoming a social game, like it’s still plagued with anti-social features like breaking up the party post match (still don’t understand why this happens), but in the Custom Game Browser? People got their mic on constantly and it’s so so nice. Basically friendship ended with Infinite now MCC is my best friend

[@crimsonquill4255]

Your video makes some very important points, and your statements are, despite all that you've been through, quite balanced. I must admit, however, I hesitated to click on the link because I was afraid it might be clickbait. That being said, you remain a very balanced and understanding commentator. This was a thought-provoking and interesting watch, and I find myself agreeing that this game could likely do with a complete relaunch. That being said, what would the reactions of fans be were such an action to be taken? Would there be some who would take an opportunity to further divide the fanbase based on arguments that a game that has to relaunch is inherently bad, or would the fanbase unite that its the right thing to do? But then again, t'is my own two cents. Thank you for being the video.

[@BlazenWrath]

Definitely Halo Infinite needs a relaunch. I’m just not sure if 343 can pull that off.

[@mrsenor32]

Couldn’t agree more, I really want to love this game, it’s fun but not very rewarding. Plus having no lobbies is the worst idea of all time

[@_Xerota_]

I'm not coming back to Infinite until Forge and Co-op campaign are there, until then MCC is where I'll be getting my Halo fix.

[@Chrisack593]

I’m sure the devs of 343 are trying their best and are painfully aware of the mistakes they’ve made and what needs to be done to fix it, but the constant almost decade long mismanagement of the company is holding halo back from what it could be.

[@dennisgalindez4802]

@InfiniteGamingHD bro shit happens this year a lot of games were buggy and incomplete asf, don’t think the devs would have wanted to be in this position

[@ThisisKyle]

I'm sure Devs are trying their best, but unfortunately it's not Devs that make 343 the company it is. It is okay to completely and utterly shit on a company for being bad even if there are a few people in it that are trying their best because you are blaming the company not the individuals

[@ThisisKyle]

@@dennisgalindez4802 Yes games made by triple A companies

[@WiseFish]

Before Infinite released I felt like MCC showed what 343 had planned for Infinites release, with challenges, progression system, fun game modes, PC integration, mods etc etc then Infinite released and it felt (and still is) sooo bare minimum with so many technical problems (new engine doesn't seem new at all). I just don't get it, I honestly thought the reasons for MCC getting battle passes was to see how they responded with audiences but seems they didn't take any notes from what made Halo games engaging in the long term. Such a shame but Halo just isn't for me under 343s management.

[@leribuliskeriya5384]

Never before in the history of the gaming industry has there been such an opportunity to become so easily both the most successful, more profiteble then free-to-play does and revolutionary (in some sense) project as 343 currently has. All that needs to be done (was?) Is to re-release the game with all the features from previous games , just copy and paste, add only a couple of new ones, forget about the fucking microtransaction system and go back to the roots of the progressive system with the addition of more opening customization behinde the achievements. Elden Ring and Witcher 3 were proof of that. And Halo Infinite, even with the core gameplay we have now, would outdo them all together. And then we will have a standard of game design for a whole decade

[@MarfeeWarfee]

The thumbnail is inaccurate. Its actually 343's *third* failure to launch a complete Halo. In addition to Halo 5 and Infinite being content-droughted, Halo MCC was completely unfinished and did not work at launch. Hilarious considering 3/4 of the game wasn't even their own work, just ports.

[@Zeus22250]

Whenever I booted up Halo Infinite for the first time I knew there was customization but didn't know it was all tied to the battle pass. Once I noticed that 343 decides your progression through unlocks it killed my buzz for Halo Infinites multiplayer. Because of this my friends and I only play for a month or so till we got burnt out, cause there was just nothing to progress towards.

[@MbV9320]

Second!? It's the third without counting the disaster that was MCC, Halo 4 was not complete.

[@thelvadam8474]

This game has so much potential .... Halo infinite gameplay is (in my opinion) the best in the series, it managed to integrate the classic spirit of Halo with modern elements such as sprinting and sliding in a perfect way . The biggest problem with this game is the content, both in multiplayer and (unfortunately) also in the campaign, when season 3 (with forge and coop) comes out this game will receive a considerable increase in players, I'm sure. Giving the community the tools they need to create new content can be the salvation of Halo infinite.

[@user-73a]

The desync errors, problems with latency and bullet registration make this by far the worst state Halo has ever been in... LAN competitions are becoming unstable dude, that's not a quality product

[@thelvadam8474]

@@user-73a I agree with you on the matter, there are a lot of technical problems that need to be resolved as soon as possible .... But personally I really appreciated the gameplay of Halo infinite, if this game had been postponed it would still be in better condition now, it is obvious that it needs to optimization work, unfortunately 343 is very slow with patches and hot fixes.

[@CargoShorts7]

Favorite gameplay in the series is definitely subjective for sure and I respect your thoughts on this. For me tho, the lack of player collision, the removal of friendly fire and some of the other omissions of core halo gameplay makes it so I can’t give Infinite the crown for best gameplay in the series. For me, it’s still 3, even if it feels slow by comparison. Reach as a close 2nd

[@thelvadam8474]

@@CargoShorts7 I respect your opinion, Halo 3 is still today a legendary title with an extraordinary gameplay and sandbox, I agree that in Halo infinite many features present in the past Halos are missing (the player collision is a rather serious lack, I agree), but I am sure that 343 can improve some aspects of the gameplay, for example re-insert classic weapons to make the sandbox wider and more varied (the covenant carbine, the brute spiker and the lack of other historical weapons of Halo are all serious shortcomings) as well as improving the Halo infinite engine, although the latter is not the best

[@TwoQuickOnes]

I just love Halo and always want it to succeed….it’s a bummer to see it slowly go downhill the last 10 years

[@aaronskuse2207]

I agree with everything, except the bit about toxicity. I.e “Playerbase” Here’s a valid problem we have, and here’s a solution most of us agree would help.” “343” REEEEEEEEE TOXIC!!1!

[@Shadowpack95]

The difference is that Bungie was dedicated to building up the community, 343 has taken it for granted, they just assume since we've been consuming fir years that we'll consume whatever Halo products they release

[@NoName-oy2tk]

I haven’t been active multiplayer wise with Halo probably since Halo: Master Chief Collection was only available on Xbox and not PC. I think I tried it once on PC and did play maybe a match or so the month of launch for Halo Infinite. More single player lately. Master Chief Collection does a lot single player wise in my opinion. Granted I know co-op and multiplayer is a huge part of Halo all together, but Master Chief Collection is a pretty solid game with a collection of games. Started multiplayer since Halo 3, but sort of haven’t been playing multiplayer for a while. Also I remember customs games in Halo: Reach. I know somebody told me Halo 5 might have best custom features, but from what I remember Halo: Reach had the best custom games because of how great its Forge was. If you didn’t care for the game options offered in matchmaking, you could make up your own game types in customs. It was awesome.

[@justinblaylock7226]

Technically it's their failure to launch a halo 3 times if you count MCC

[@Hedgehog1039]

Very good video and I completely agree. No Mans Sky is a fantastic example and one they should follow. God... I just want to have as much fun and engagement playing a Halo game other than CE through Reach again.

[@Ducain_Plays]

LNG mentioned Race... 10/10 video!

[@ZAGON117]

I have nothing but complete spite for 343, I do not know where or who all the issues came from, but it happened somewhere and they have lied to us far too many times for me to give a damn anymore. Let them lay in the grave they so merrily dug for themselves. I will support fan projects and maybe a new studio, but 343 has burned every bit of trust I had in them. I'm done.

[@Combine96]

I can't say this enough, the UI is fucking atrocious. How Halo Infinite has a objectively worse UI than Reach is mind boggling

[@user-73a]

Halo Infinite has worse gun play than Halo 3 and that's a serious accomplishment when the net code was so bad in 2007...

[@matthewredenbaugh1110]

I have no confidence in 343 to produce a good product

[@kanadetachibana4130]

343 is woke, they would never allow you to name a game mode "Fat Kid". Look what they did with SWAT.

[@spat3305]

Bungie is even more woke.

[@dissociativealeks]

I honestly believe halo infinite would’ve done better if it launched with a forge mode. It’s the only thing for me that would guarantee playing it years down the line

[@beeno3487]

343 trying to make halo look like it’s made by 343. Even in infinite. They have 0 respect for the creativity and beauty that bungie. And honestly the come off as jealous. I’m glad they gave us mcc (even tho it’s missing a bunch for the og games) and that’s something I can praise them for. But infinites campaign, I was bored in 20 minutes, forced myself to play more, and couldn’t after like 4 or 5 hours. It’s just repetitive in every sense of the word. And if 20% of my shots aren’t registering In MP, why the hell would I play the game? I won’t. There’s far better games. Ffs halo 4 is more fun than infinite.

[@phobosinferno]

A 2.0 launch would do wonders. I know some people would rather have a new game but honestly, I don't think a new game would help at this point and it would likely go through the exact same growing pains. Sadly this is an issue that management and shareholders have caused. Decisions are being made to cut costs to development and generate massive short-term profits over a steadier, long-term revenue. Microsoft and the management at 343 need to realise that doing things such as cycling contracted workers at 2 year intervals isn't healthy for any game's development, much less a AAA flagship title. Stop the short-term contracts, hire more full-time developers who will over time become more experienced with the game engine and will be able to do new and interesting things with it down the line, as well as pump out content at more regular intervals.

[@kasferret]

Man... I hate to see how far Halo has fallen... Infinite really got my hopes up but it fell so short of any actual expectations...

[@omgodification]

I love the Halo franchise with all my heart. It was the only videogame I could play as a child since we didn't have much money, so all I had was a used 360 and the original CE. So for all of my life, I could only play Halo. So its been very sad to realize that I don't even care about Infinite anymore. I managed to snag a series S after saving up money and played the entire campaign in one sitting. But afterwards, I kinda just gave up. Its been nice exploring other games like MGR and Doom, but I still feel very depressed by the fact that the game I loved the most lost me in its entirety to objectively better options.

[@sionhughes9044]

Can we call it now? This has been an absolute disaster. 343 were given the biggest fps in the world and have delivered over a decade of failure. Fire them all. The entire managerial teams have been found out to be ignorant, arrogant and most of all incompetent CHARLATANS.

[@CargoShorts7]

343 literally just needs to stop focusing so much on the shop for now. Seems like most of their focus is still on the shop and monetization, and it shows with how frequently the shop updates and how infrequently the content updates… It really just frustrates me to no end that this is the current trend in gaming. It’s like… just focus on making a damn good game, then the rest will fall in place. See all of the Bungie Halos for historic examples and Elden Ring for a modern example.

[@rekrios]

Its a shock how this game was ready to launch in November of 2020. They have absolutely nothing two years later, how could they have possibly kept the game alive up to that point???

[@TerrorSS]

Uninstalled the game last night. Became so tired of being forced to play game modes against my will to “progress”. I’ll be back when that foundation is in the game. If it’s back.

[@maskedcommand3r547]

Just my opinion, but as someone who has been playing Halo since almost the beginning I knew 343 just plain old sucks the minute I finished playing 4s campaign, Halos awesome social aspects were born with 2 and died in 4

[@yvindlavold5741]

The best thing for Halo would be to get another developer. But sadly it seems 343 can mess up indefinetly and still keep the IP...

[@anOrcaDork]

Finally someone who speaks out about EARNABLE COSMETICS. You know how they made a Combat Evolved weapon charm but made it Store EXCLUSIVE? Why can't we get that ourselves by earning 50 Combat Evolved medals in Matchmaking?? I've heard complaints that dumb challenges like that make players play a certain way, but at least it's out of the ordinary and add flavor to every game instead of Generic Deathmatch 3086. You'd have people chucking plasmas at weapon pads for that weapon charm. It would be f u n.