Some numbers for you

Microsoft are the largest software maker in the world

They have 144,000 employees, operate in over one hundred countries, and produce enterprise software used by every single one of the fortune 500 companies.

Last year they generated $168 Billion in revenue

and currently have a market capitalisation of $2.21 trillion

They recently announced an intention to spend $68 billion buying Activision for a gaming division expected to lead the Microsoft charge into an industry wide change to subscription models, game streaming and, most importantly for Microsoft right now, the metaverse.

All of which I mention to underline the curious case of the slowly emerging cluster fuck that is the launch of Halo Infinite. A game with a 10-year life span but launched without a roadmap to see it through its first few months.

Where are we?

A game delayed by a year because it wasn’t ready, and now that it has been released what is clear is that it needed even more development time. The development problems have been well documented at this point as have the problems with the game but the highlights (or low lights) post launch for me are:

• A Lack of MP content. This really is unforgivable in a game with such excellent combat mechanics. Plan your events, drop rewards, reward your players for their support and build hype, momentum and anticipation for everything else you want to release. What did we get….? A shop full of cutsie customisations and armour coatings locked to a specific armour core meaning if you want a consistent look across all armours you purchase for each core. This shows where the focus of development has been for 343 / Microsoft management.
• Lack of Anti cheat which destroys trust. I can’t tell you the number of times a player better than me has the upper hand or run up a big score and all I can think about is “is this guy cheating?”
• Desync and lag issues – most embarrassingly in their own pro league LAN events.

• Big Team Battle broken for months on end with little proactive communication as to why it was happening or what was being done to address it. For a game so shallow in content to have such a major feature unplayable is an embarrassment for a software company like Microsoft. It’s akin to Apple launching a new phone and the music player not working. Yeah, you can make phone calls but the other 1/3 of the experience you paid for is broken!
• A shallow and forgettable campaign. I know this is subjective, but I’ve completed it and honestly cannot remember the point of the campaign other than to replace Cortana with a new model and soft reboot everything.
• No forge. Ironically of this had been present the lack of content would have been fixed by the dedicated user community forging new maps and game modes
• No campaign coop. Another Halo staple missing at launch with no timeline for delivery other than “it’s coming in season 2”
• No campaign playlists. What we have right now is a massive open and empty world. Other than to go in and try and blow things up Mint Blitz style there is little to do. Exploration and random encounters are fun for a bit, but they don’t keep you coming back in the way that jumping back into a campaign mission would.

• And a PC “port” that is incredibly buggy. I won’t say too much about this because my experience on PC has been good but for those it affects it seems to be in a bad state.

Halo is Xbox

For many, Halo is XBOX. Master chief is literally on the fucking box!

So, you would think that this game, this franchise, this cultural event would have garnered slightly more interest from the big wigs at Microsoft HQ. They intend to spend $68 billion bolstering a gaming division which can’t even ship a complete game for their highest profile franchise. This game should be the pinnacle of what Microsoft hopes to achieve in the gaming space. It should be afforded every chance, with the best engineers, writers and designers put to work by a management team with a clear multiyear creative vision and a clearly communicated timescale for delivering content to what is supposed to be a live service game. What is clear from this launch is that none of these things are present. This game feels like it has been hamstrung, not only by development issues exacerbated by a global pandemic but, what looks like a financial decision, to make the game open world which gives Microsoft the ability to plug in add-ons or seasonal challenges and extensions and monetise these in a way that a linear campaign does not. Is this an overly ambitious attempt to turn Halo into a platform? (if such a thing is possible). All this instead of sticking to a tried and tested linear campaign with a strong story that lives on after you have completed it and creates passion for your franchise, bolsters the multiplayer experience and creates kudos for your gaming platform!

It’s the story stupid!

Narratively speaking this game has the feeling of creative bankruptcy which plagues lots of modern franchises. Don’t let Halo become just more content. Just an endless stream of seasonal DLC with ever more convoluted plots as the writers produce ever more creative ways to squeeze more life out of the characters, environments, and scenarios they have been left with. All of which will earn Microsoft plenty of money and may even get more people playing but they will hold no great affection for the franchise in the long term. By going down this road you are creating customers and not lifelong fans of your work. Halo CE is still revered by those that played when it first came out and continue to play it via the MCC. Not because the game is still a technical marvel or has aged brilliantly but because the narrative is inventive and clever in ways designed to stay with you long after you finish the game. Compare the freshness of the CE campaign, a simple story, with engaging dialogue, a great sidekick, a complex enemy, and a twist no one saw coming. At every step of the way we saw something new. With Infinite we get a pastiche of previously used ideas and a campaign designed only to wipe the slate clean so that we can start again for a new generation of players. The gameplay is fun, and it feels like Halo but let’s face it, it’s the ultimate in soft reboots!

The original trilogy is beloved by OG players. Will the same be said for Infinite? Some will love it forever as their first Halo experience, but my fear is it will be seen in the same light as a FIFA or John Madden release. Just more yearly filler.

How do they fix it?

As a live service game Halo Infinite should have been developed with a multiyear roadmap from its inception. This should be clearly communicated to the fans (paying customers), with a series of regular monthly game updates until all remaining bugs have been ironed out. This is basic project and stakeholder management, and Microsoft are currently failing at both. The game also needs a fresh creative vision, planned out, even if just at an elevated level, from start to finish, which builds season on season over several years bringing players back for more with each new release. Does anyone want to bet that, right now, there is no overarching story already planned out. That they are making this all up as they go along and will make changes based on what sells and what doesn’t. If they get the narrative problems sorted, they will find everything else hangs together much more coherently. The core gameplay is engaging and fun. Get the story right and they will find themselves onto a winner.

Conclusion

343 / Microsoft have taken what should have been a victory parade for Halo fans and turned it into a rain-soaked slog through litter strewn streets. How many of us will be left at the end of the journey? Of course, Halo will be around for a long time yet and I’ll continue to play it until it’s no longer enjoyable. But this game launch feels like they have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. The multiplayer preview was so much fun, and the early reviews were so positive that had you told me the situation we would be in a few months after launch I would have struggled to believe you.

Xbox and Microsoft are bigger than one game and bigger than Master Chief, but when you tarnish the reputation of your most loved franchise the damage is hard to calculate. Reputational damage is corrosive and long lasting. Your biggest fans become your biggest critics and the trust is hard to get back! There is an X factor to these things and if Microsoft aren’t careful Halo will become a toxic franchise which only the dedicated will want to associate with.

343i – Worth saving?

One final thought to finish on – Is 343 Industries fit for purpose? They have yet to release a campaign the community can get on board with. Every campaign they have released has been plagued by narrative conveniences, odd choices, confusing marketing, or stories with no overarching plan. Each multiplayer release has seen game breaking technical issues and missing content which are slowly breaking the will of the community. Is it time to scrap this organisation and start again?

What will Microsoft do when the Halo communities biggest cheerleaders move on and cover other games because of frustrations never addressed over years of feedback from multiple botched releases? I hope we never find out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aiulc0z9BT0