Halo Infinite becomes most-played Xbox game on Steam ever in under 24 hours

I think the only way Halo can become as big as it used to be is to do something revolutionary. They've just been doing small changes with each game and simply copying ideas from other games.

VR is the perfect opportunity for this. There are very few VR AAA fps games, and tons of cool things that haven't been done well yet.
The problem is I don't think 343 is capable of doing anything like that. And MS said they don't want to bring VR to Xbox. But they did hire some guy that was working on a Halo VR mod.
 
sharknice said:
I think the only way Halo can become as big as it used to be is to do something revolutionary. They've just been doing small changes with each game and simply copying ideas from other games.

VR is the perfect opportunity for this. There are very few VR AAA fps games, and tons of cool things that haven't been done well yet.
The problem is I don't think 343 is capable of doing anything like that. And MS said they don't want to bring VR to Xbox. But they did hire some guy that was working on a Halo VR mod.
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Great point and VR Halo would be a killer Xbox VR app, and killer WMR app, but MS has been anemic with VR. They went all in on AR and HoloLens and were dismissive of VR, but then AR didnt really set the world on fire, so they backpeddled to just being platform gatekeepers of VR with WMR. And they've ignored VR on Xbox, while PlayStation VR continues to improve and a new hardware gen is around the corner.

It's like their trailblazing days are behind them. They'd rather sit back and watch others become entrenched leaders, and then make a half assed effort to play catch up, but then give up quickly when that half assed effort doesn't have overnight success with consumers.
 
DPI said:
Great point and VR Halo would be a killer Xbox VR app, and killer WMR app, but MS has been anemic with VR. They went all in on AR and HoloLens and were dismissive of VR, but then AR didnt really set the world on fire, so they backpeddled to just being platform gatekeepers of VR with WMR. And they've ignored VR on Xbox, while PlayStation VR continues to improve and a new hardware gen is around the corner.

It's like their trailblazing days are behind them. They'd rather sit back and watch others become entrenched leaders, and then make a half assed effort to play catch up, but then give up quickly when that half assed effort doesn't have overnight success with consumers.
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Its more a symptom of being to large, creating inflexibility as internal bureaucracy and departmental budgeting has taken over. Microsoft has to function across so many fronts its probably nigh impossible for them to put together WMR, Xbox, and halo. Heck they didn't really go all in on AR, they just made it then kinda stopped.

I'd bet most of their focus is on windows and azure. their basically a government at this point, and just as effective.
 
Y’all just reminded me about UT2k4. God that game was awesome. I never cared about Halo, thought the campaigns were alright but didn’t enjoy the MP (I was a PC guy).
 
next-Jin said:
Y’all just reminded me about UT2k4. God that game was awesome. I never cared about Halo, thought the campaigns were alright but didn’t enjoy the MP (I was a PC guy).
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UT2K4 was my shit for a couple years.
 
Armenius said:
Of course it does. It uses Microsoft's infrastructure for multiplayer. If you already sign into Windows with a Microsoft account you won't even see any kind of login popup.
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Yeah guess that was a dumb question wasn’t it…
 
jbltecnicspro said:
Yeah guess that was a dumb question wasn’t it…
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I know somebody that won't play it because of this which is just odd to me considering they have 57 different launchers installed.

What's even more odd is that nobody from [H] has added me on Steam to play Halo.
 
I'm not going to play it - just not my type of game - but I applaud MS for releasing on Steam. Microsoft store is a freaking PITA.

My kids play minecraft through that - and half the time some middleware (MS Gaming Services, etc) fails to load/update properly with no clear indication of what went wrong. I have to google the hell out of the problem to find some solution that usually involved Powershell. Then i have to google the provided powershell commands to make sure i am not borking installing malware on my kids' PCs. Just to get my kid on Minecraft. Steam is just simpler.
 
sc5mu93 said:
I'm not going to play it - just not my type of game - but I applaud MS for releasing on Steam. Microsoft store is a freaking PITA.

My kids play minecraft through that - and half the time some middleware (MS Gaming Services, etc) fails to load/update properly with no clear indication of what went wrong. I have to google the hell out of the problem to find some solution that usually involved Powershell. Then i have to google the provided powershell commands to make sure i am not borking installing malware on my kids' PCs. Just to get my kid on Minecraft. Steam is just simpler.
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I'm kinda convinced that gamepass will just get neglected and end up being a sub-par pos like origin is.
 
The problem is that Halo Infinite's online mode is a absolute clusterfuck of microtransaction garbage. I don't even mind the battle pass element (which is essentially a "subscription that lasts a few months" provided you are able to unlock everything with ease during that time) but everything else - how you gain XP and levels, the special events, the items, how even changing color means an a la carte purchase et.c..its crazy. I absolutely support MS bringing their titles to Steam (an they need to bring GamePass there too by the way) as opposed to a proprietary windows only app, but Halo Infinite at least as for its multiplayer isn't impressive so far because of horrid monetization.
 
RanceJustice said:
The problem is that Halo Infinite's online mode is a absolute clusterfuck of microtransaction garbage. I don't even mind the battle pass element (which is essentially a "subscription that lasts a few months" provided you are able to unlock everything with ease during that time) but everything else - how you gain XP and levels, the special events, the items, how even changing color means an a la carte purchase et.c..its crazy. I absolutely support MS bringing their titles to Steam (an they need to bring GamePass there too by the way) as opposed to a proprietary windows only app, but Halo Infinite at least as for its multiplayer isn't impressive so far because of horrid monetization.
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Alas, you and I are not the target demographic for the costume and cosmetics MTX era. Just have to accept we've aged out of the games designed with these monetization schemes, or just stuck in a bygone era.

We can kick and scream and review bomb and reddit brigade, but the collective purchasing power of kids buying clown wigs for their "Halo Man" (direct quote) in this game and other games like it is more powerfun than the sun and bitcoin.
 
DPI said:
Alas, you and I are not the target demographic for the costume and cosmetics MTX era. Just have to accept we've aged out of the games designed with these monetization schemes, or just stuck in a bygone era.

We can kick and scream and review bomb and reddit brigade, but the collective purchasing power of kids buying clown wigs for their "Halo Man" (direct quote) in this game and other games like it is more powerfun than the sun and bitcoin.
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This may be true, sadly, but I don't think we ought to give up. Rather, we should show these kids that they've been screwed and that it shouldn't be normal, so they'll take up our side. This is a generation that supposedly is very aware of injustice and exploitation in other areas, including financial. - they just have to connect it here. I admit its an uphill battle overall with those who have grown up with every sort of microtransaction and gatcha garbage under the sun (which is especially frustrating considering that some of us have been against it from the start and warning it would only get worse - we "just didn't buy it" but that didn't stop the progression; though being right is cold comfort as this affects even games we prefer). but this is Halo - a title that is in many ways relying on mid-to-older millennials console nostalgia, its not Fortnite, so it should in theory be targeting those besides the youngest. Even the difference between the Master Chief Collection, where you can unlock cosmetics by playing the game instead of a la carte purchase is important. We can't just leave the industry to rot being nickled and dimed (or should I say "$18''s and $25'd) t death, cosmetic or otherwise.
 
I never understood why cosmetic monetization matters to people. I for one have only ever paid for a few things, never put a dime into CoD skins, won't put a dime into this.

There is literally no play advantage, just the way you look, I'm fine looking like a basic grunt and kicking everyone's ass.

The moment it get pay2win I'm out though.
 
Aireoth said:
There is literally no play advantage, just the way you look, I'm fine looking like a basic grunt and kicking everyone's ass.
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It's the same reason people dress up in the real world.
 
Aireoth said:
I never understood why cosmetic monetization matters to people. I for one have only ever paid for a few things, never put a dime into CoD skins, won't put a dime into this.

There is literally no play advantage, just the way you look, I'm fine looking like a basic grunt and kicking everyone's ass.

The moment it get pay2win I'm out though.
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Its both principle and practical rationale; I care, I think everyone else ought to as well because its making gaming worse. In days past you used to get all content ,including cosmetic, included for price of admission. I know some will say "but what about freeeeeeeeeeee", but notice that all of these "f2p" games allow and in fact require payment way beyond a full priced AAA standard game, in order to get access to all the cosmetic content. It isn't like its "Oh, see you only pay a couple bucks here or there if you are in free mode, but you can have the option to pay for the full game and get everything cosmetic included". No, because ever since Western developers looked East to Korean item malls and the like, they figured "Why not, I can get people to pay hundreds or thousands!". Go look at a regular "f2p" (or even those where you pay full price or monthly sub, infuriatingly) and total up what it would cost to get all the cosmetics. Hell, Apex Legends (among others) has limited time events where the minimum to unlock everything is around $250 - and that's something that lasts about a week! This is insane . Remember when they were called "micro" transactions because they were supposed to be well..micro? Less than a dollar here or there etc.. now the average is an $18-25 "good skin" , or other similar content.

Now, you may say "its only cosmetic", but that doesn't make much sense. Its normal for people to want to see their characters progress, customized, and attired for single or multiplayer. There's a reason why as soon as it was technically viable RPGs made sure that end game Ultima Blades don't look visually the same as starter Rusty Broadswords! In the old days users used to be able to achieve those cosmetic changes either purely through play (in the case of many single and multiplayer titles) and/or a system of modding or custom content generation (such as custom skins or "pick an image file" style "sprays' in competitive shooters) ; it is only relatively recently that all of this has been subsumed by locking down such features in order to sell access to more limited content. The industry has tried to convince people that cosmetic content is simultaneously "lesser" and "greater" ; lesser in that they say "oh its not REAL content, we can charge extra for this its fine" yet take a look at all these companies that put nearly their entire business plan on monetizing this "lesser" content , as they know it is very valuable to players. The "haha just don't buy it its just epeen I don't care about it pay for my game" viewpoint allows these companies to make a lot of money and cut content out of your game. Cosmetic content is no less valuable or less a part of the game than any other, and putting a surcharge on it is basically a tax on people who enjoy those aspects of the game. Those who accept it because they don't care about that part of the game would throw a major fit if it was ever pointed at portions of they game they enjoy. Imagine If you had to pay $5 for every ranked PVP multiplayer match or something, and people just said " I don't know why you care about that, . Just collect cosmetics, play the campaign, co-op, and unranked... just do that!" - you'd probably say "No, its the part of the game I enjoy and its not fair that I should have to pay extra to access it, or that the entire monetization structure is predicated on making people who llike the part of the game I enjoy pay extra".

This is one reason that I prefer universal content access monetization such as subscriptions (or one-off expansions/DLC, perhaps even battle passes if done right without extraneous a la carte purchases etc ) because they should be the most equitable. In the old days of subscription MMOs like EverQuest or the early days of WoW you paid your subscription fee and had full access to the game (aside from a one off expansion every 1-2 years for a reasonable price etc). Once you were into the gameworld you could spend your time and do content as you chose - if you wanted to raid the biggest bosses, fight against other players until you were king of the hill, or just wanted to collect every fashionable outfit in the game you could do so without additional charge. Exploitative "cosmetic" monetization makes it so that players who enjoyed the last element now have to pay extra - often a great deal extra - and every bit of content that is cut out of game to be sold a la carte is something that should have been otherwise unlockable through play! People would rightly yell about "pay2win" if it affected other groups - if raiders or PVPers had to spend $5 to enter the dungeon each week, buy consumable "loot decursing tickets" in order to equip anything that was dropped along the way , or even pay per "power reveal" token to allow the fancy end-game raid or PVP set piece equipment to have its proper appearance instead of looking like starter generic equipment - but say its "just cosmetic" and some will shrug and consider it acceptable, likely because they don't have interest or attachment in that part of the game. Ultimately, treating cosmetic content as somehow lesser , uinworthy of being "real, the point of the game systems" yet knowing people will spent a ton for this dynamic isn't fair - no one game system, design dynamic, or method of play should bear the brunt of monetization especially in such an exploitative way. This is to say nothing for the insane prices for these cosmetics or how many developers know that, much like F2P titles in general, they don't expect "most people to buy a little bit every so often", but rather know they're dealing with a minority of players spending obscene amounts! The entire system is rotten cosmetic or otherwise, when you see a variety of "F2P" MMOs or "gatchas" who depend on whales spending hundreds or thousands of dollars per month and thus bend their design to be offputting to everyone else to allow these people to justify their expenses, or even the likes of sports games like FIFA using lootbox-esq mechanics for players to gain their favorite players for their rosters to the tune of thousands!

There are many other dimensions and related design decisions to explore, but suffice it to say treating exclusive cosmetic content though its acceptable for a surcharge is one of the more insidious mechanics that exists nearly entirely on the line that it isn't equal to other content. Like most other exploitative monetization, the pathogen spreads throughout the system based on ease of development and huge potential ROI - so it isn't enough to say "just don't buy it", as it only takes a handful of those buying to justify the behavior financially leading to more and more content being cut out to be sold a la carte, targeting a certain demographic of players who enjoy the cosmetic aspects of the game.
 
Aireoth said:
I never understood why cosmetic monetization matters to people. I for one have only ever paid for a few things, never put a dime into CoD skins, won't put a dime into this.

There is literally no play advantage, just the way you look, I'm fine looking like a basic grunt and kicking everyone's ass.

The moment it get pay2win I'm out though.
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You mean like the souvenir dragon lore skin. It's gotta make 10x a better shot right? :ROFLMAO:
 
Aireoth said:
I never understood why cosmetic monetization matters to people. I for one have only ever paid for a few things, never put a dime into CoD skins, won't put a dime into this.

There is literally no play advantage, just the way you look, I'm fine looking like a basic grunt and kicking everyone's ass.

The moment it get pay2win I'm out though.
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Because it trickles down into everything else. If your revenue stream depends on selling cosmetics, then the gameplay systems are going to be altered to support that business model regardless of whether or not you want to buy anything.
 
Armenius said:
Because it trickles down into everything else. If your revenue stream depends on selling cosmetics, then the gameplay systems are going to be altered to support that business model regardless of whether or not you want to buy anything.
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Didn't in CoD so far, not everything turns into fortnite.

Also when the product is free its pretty easy to bail to something else if/when the practice becomes to much.
 
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