MS: One Halo Game Every Three Years Not Frequent Enough

For more than the first half of Microsoft's foray into the videogame world, players looked on with interest for years as they waited for the next Halo game to materialize. Recently, with the releases of Halo Wars, Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Reach, that wait has been reduced to 12 months or less. Expect that trend of short waits to continue, though perhaps not necessarily on an annualized pace.

[Gandalf]

.

[Christopher]

1 new game every 2 years for each IP tends to be about right.

[RageAgainstTheMShine]

How do you design a game where making money is the main design criteria?

[DORMIN]

LOL Now that Bungie has left 'Halo' with MS they are going to milk the hell out of this. Next CoD here we come
-__-

[AngryTypingGuy]

Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Any game that is released annually will eventually burn out. By having Halo come out ever two years, it will prolong the life of it.

[Brewski007]

The cash cow needs to be milked once a year !!!

[BubbleSystemSuck]

MS=Milk Shake?

i hope MS dont destroy the Halo frnachise with the new develpment studios

[Anton Chigurh]

I was and Still Big Socom fan but I was very disappointed with Socom confrontation ... [email protected] man that game was [email protected] Lets hope that the new development studio (halo) don't follow slant six failure.

Nothing can replace Bungie and Zipper :(

[iHEARTboobs]

I'm sure Bungie will bring something better to the table. Maybe not as popular but the gameplay should be better.

[BubbleSystemSuck]

but now, the situacion with Bungie is unknow...

First... Microsoft... but now: Activi$ion Kotik

:scared:

but i have all my Hope on Treyarch. i really enjoyed World at Ward...

MW2?
*cough*
*cough*

[negrito211]

i need more milk.....*starts sucking again..*

[Brklynty1]

They dont want to make a halo game every year...ironically they sign with a company known for killing the damn cows...O_o

[iPad]

Santa Monica: "We don't want to release a new God of War game every year. It'll make the series irrelevant."

They actually said something like that.

[PshycoNinja]

Sony Santa Monica only developed GOW 1, 2, 3. 1 released in 2005, 2 released in 2007 and 3 released in 2010. Ready at Dawn have made the PSP games.

So they have not released a single GOW game within a year of eachother.

[XactGamer]

Ratchet and Clank 1-12
SOCOM 1-8

thats milked

[spooky205]

if we were to apply that to any ongoing franchise we could also include 7 metroids, 13 zeldas, and over 20 marios. There are differences storywise and gameplay changes in all of those sequels that keep it fresh. Some will continue to play and enjoy others will move on. I would say milked would be more along the lines of Madden, the new guitar heros, COD, anything that could have been patched in or DLC but added in and sold at 60 bucks.

[kaveti6616]

You haven't played the game. You're saying the online hasn't expanded. That's how people know you're wrong. The internet affords people the anonymity to say something without having any credibility, and people will believe them. But only to an extent. Then people like you, who don't know how to properly con people and manipulate them into believing lies, show up and say such stupid things, that anyone can now see that you're just a bullshitter. Not only that, but you're a multiaccount fanboy whose never had anything positive to say about 360 or its games.

I'd tell you to go play your PS3, but I'm certain you're having more fun here. What does that say about your games?

[outrageous]

I hope so...the last thing M$ should do is listen to the PS3 community about anything gaming related. The hardcore 360 gamer deserves a Halo game every year, no different than COD. Find 2 great devs and let them go at it. While we are at it a Halo MMO would be great. A Lego Halo game would sell millions. Where's a TPS Halo game with squad control.

The fan base is there...hurry up already.

[madjedi]

I doubt ms would allow travler tales enough control over the game, to make lego halo, add to the fact they would lose half the market instantly is another minus.

And i truly hope you viewing a yearly halo release like cod is a good thing is sarcasm. I'll put aside your fanboy comment for now. What 2 great devs, the unproven 343 industries and who isn't already busy with current projects.

Lmao wow i really hope this is satire, if not your stupid, beyond blatant rude fanboyism.

Do you know the phrase wearing a franchise out, that's why insomniac alternates between r&c and resistance and their new mp game.

It's also why bungie is done with halo for now, and people are telling naughty dog to lay off uncharted 3 and do a jak and daxter game.

While a lego halo game, isn't a bad idea, too much of any series gets tiring for most people after a while. Ms will kill the halo franchise if it isn't careful and tries to push too much halo in too short a time frame.

"the last thing M$ should do is listen to the PS3 community about anything gaming related." Lol yes built-in wifi or non-proprietary hard drives, free online play are all bad ideas don't listen to the ps3 community ever.

Which is ironic sense other than a brand attachment, there is are more in common with ps3 and 360 owners as gamers than actual differences.

The only significant difference is exclusive games and ps3 owners seem a bit more accepting of unconventional games than the 360 audience is, to me at least.

[Solid_Snakeps3]

god... M$ seriously want to live up to their stereotypes

[avengers1978]

Now that Bungie won't be making them. You'll probably see them come out every year to year and a half.

[Roozium]

theKiller:

Chill the f**k out you fanboy.

[paintsville]

It takes time to develop a quality product. Killzone 2 didn't come out over night and Microsoft shouldn't expect anything less from it's developers. I'd rather have a quality game than something just thrown out there to fill the gap ie ODST (terrible full priced expansion).
Quality over quantity any day.

[swiftshot93]

These guys can go to hell without Bungie.

[THC PRITCHARD]

I hope you are right, The next xbox is doomed

[ingiomar]

lol Halo 4 will probably be a launch game for the 720..no way it will be doomed and with the current install base which is building up really fast, i dare to say its impossible for the 720 to be doomed.

if the Annualized Halo are Spin-offs like
Halo wars, Im a happy Haloer

As long as it isn't
2011> Halo 4
2012> Halo 5
2013> Halo 6 etc, etc..

[BiggCMan]

@ingiomar
i personally look at halo reach as the true successor to halo 3, and believe it is the real halo 4. it just happens to be a prequel. but still halo 4 in my eyes.

[Comet]

"Xbox 3" will not be on the scale with a PlayStation 4.
Who said the next Xbox will come with Blu-Ray? That's right...

[YoshiMeetsU]

Really? You and the 13 agrees want these people to go to hell because it won't be Bungie behind it? You are not even going to give the new studio a chance?

Even though the founder of Bungie and main creator of Halo Frank O' Connor is with this new team? A team that has ex-devs from Naughty Dog, Ubisoft Montreal and Irrational Games? Some seriously good talent there and MS has built this studio around said talent.

And THC Pritchard you hope he is right?

I hope you are dead wrong as a gamer.

[bustamove]

Oh noes, someone wrote an opinion you don't like! Give me a break, really.

[lastdual]

@bustamove: He didn't just disagree. And he formulated a logical response to that opinion, and backed up his position by reason of the talet involved.

That's what mature people call debating.

[callahan09]

Bungie is one of the most talented developers in the world. The technology behind Halo: Reach is incredible. The polish on that game is immaculate. The menus, the presentation, the features, the options, the design in every category is just so far above and beyond any other game out there, and that's a fact. Maybe you don't think it has the most interesting story and characters, or even the most fun pure gameplay in terms of its level design and mechanics, but if you enjoy the game for the game on offer at all, then what really makes it such an incredible package is the polish and multitude of features on display. I don't see any other developer doing what they've done, and I don't see how a developer who has never released a single game (343 industries? what is that? who are they?) are going to compete with the level of talent that Bungie has. I just don't see how any developer BUT Bungie can make a Halo game that can stand up to Halo: Reach.

[units]

3 years is more than enough for a halo not every year

[TheHater]

There was 2 Halo games release last year and another one this year. I think that milking it

[Eiffel]

One an RTS that was GREAT and made by a different studio.

There have only been six Halo titles since 2001. That's far from milking unlike some franchises.

[Motorola]

Hence the milking begins!

[Convas]

Oh No, not the COD treatment. MS, you idiots, think! GAHHHHH!

However, I'm not worried all that much, as one guy said in the IGN comment sections, 343 has to worry about getting people interested in Halo 4 first. They are going to have to earn our trust before they can even think about mega publishing.

[HeroXIV]

They should make an open world Halo MMO.

[Lionalliance]

They did, got canceled.

[Unicron]

CoD, MGS, and Halo need to stop with this crap.

Like, right now.

[BiggCMan]

im sorry, halo and MGS are not being milked. not yet anyways. halo is on its way im sure. but MGS is not. the last 2 MGS games were guns of the patriots in 2008, and peacewalker in 2010.

oh and by the way, rising is no metal gear game.

[likedamaster]

Metal Gear
Snake's Revenge
Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
Metal Gear Solid
Metal Gear Solid Integral
Metal Gear Solid VR Missions
Metal Gear: Ghost Babel
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance
Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Metal Gear Ac!d
Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence
Metal Gear Ac!d 2
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus
Metal Gear Ac!d Mobile
Metal Gear Solid Mobile
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Metal Gear Online
Metal Gear Solid Touch
Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker
Metal Gear Solid Rising
Metal Gear Solid 5(maybe?)

----------------------------- --------

Halo: Combat Evolved
Halo 2
Halo 3
Halo Wars
Halo:ODST
Halo Reach

I'm no fanboy, but it's obvious who's milking what.

on topic/
2 years is just right.

[Britney Spears]

@likedamaster- you mentioned metal gear and snakes revenge which came out in 1987,it was out for a long time [about 20 years] so by then it would make sense why there is that many.also you cant rally count remakes,re-release and handheld versions,only the console version counts as the real one's. halo is milled too death,they had 2 come out last year and then 1 again this year.ever 2 years is bad too,it has to be every 3 years or more if anything.a sequel can come out 2 years later but if you keep doing it then it's a bad thing.

[likedamaster]

I'll leave PC versions for both franchises out of it.

and leave Britney Spears alone. http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[YoshiMeetsU]

Yet, everyone is all high fives when yet another Ratchet and Clank game get's announced. It looks the exact same and even worse than the last but it's the uber awesomez on N4G.

Not saying you were one of them but if the games are selling and people are enjoying them why should they stop?

[ionicmoose]

Regarding R&C, Tools of Destruction came out 2007, then 2008 saw a very short downloadable game that had a couple hours of SP gameplay max, and no MP, followed by Crack in Time in 2009. Then All 4 One likely isn't due for release until mid to late 2011?

Also, saying that Crack in Time improved nothing over the previous games proves you musn't have played them as it's a perfect example of how a game series should evolve.

I don't mind annual releases if the quality is kept to a high standard. I commend THQ for taking a year out with UFC after having released games in 2009 and 2010 and not planning on another until after March 2012 if I remember correctly.

[DigitalRaptor]

Ubisoft are doing the same with Assassin's Creed.

Assassin's Creed - 2007
Assassin's Creed II - 2009
AC: Brotherhood - 2010

And they aren't gonna release Assassin's Creed III until around 2012. http://www.xboxic.com/news/...

Although I realise I haven't considered the PSP and DS games. Those aren't really the MAIN games though.

[Snakefist30]

'Ubisoft are doing the same with Assassin's Creed'

But they change the gameplay in every series of Assassin's Creed.They are puting new types of gameplay to make it more interseting.In Halo they arent going to change anything gameplay and grahics are remain the same they only going to change the Story.

[DigitalRaptor]

I agree. I wasn't disputing that. AC is an awesome series with each game having considerable improvements over their predecessors.

[ionicmoose]

While I generally disagree with annual releases of games, CoD is an exception as it uses (well, used) alternating studios to produce the games, so technically it was only every 2 years or so as they differed in gameplay style.

MGS had games released in 98, 01, 04, 08, and 10, hardly milking it is it? 5 games in 12 years?

Halo started out alright with 01, 04, 07, 10 for the main games, then Halo Wars in early 09 was acceptable as the first spin off for the series, but ODST was unecessary in my opinion.

I think they could drop down to 2 years between main releases if they cut out any pointless spin-offs, otherwise keep it at 3 years.

[kndy]

odst was supposed to be an expansion, microsoft be damned.
im so happy for bungie that they got out of that mess

[number47]

and boasts more story/features every version. Not just polishing the same turd.

It added online.

[IHateYouFanboys]

lols

Ratchet and Clank is actually sub-HD, then upscaled to 720p. dont even try and argue that its not, its been proven many times for every single PS3 ratchet game - all what, 6 of them by now? if any franchise is being milked, its Ratchet & Clank with its 1 game every <12 months.

Halo, very surprisingly, hasnt been milked. 4 main games in 10 years, so 1 in every 2.5 years. ODST was always just an expansion pack, and Wars was made by a different developer and is a completely different genre, so it hardly counts.

[Unicron]

"ODST was always just an expansion pack"

Flipfloptastic commentary on this one.

I don't mind the franchises continuing, but let's stop diluting them.

[Trroy]

R&C == 6.5 games in 9 years, inclusive of the Quest for Booty PSN title (that's the "0.5").

Halo == 6 games in 8 years, with a couple cancelled titles.

...or are you guys counting handheld titles? I think that adds 2 more to R&C (by non-Insomniac devs), and a couple more canned projects to Halo.

...and, btw, Halo: Reach is the first Halo to almost reach 720p, to my knowledge. Every Halo title previously has been 600p or less.

[IHateYouFanboys]

@Unicron: Bungie always considered ODST an expansion pack. for crying out loud, it was only made by a small handful of the Bungie team while the rest of them worked on Reach.

Microsoft chose to release it at full price, so they packed in the Halo 3 multiplayer on a second disc to justify the price point. that doesnt change the fact that ODST is an expansion pack.

@Trroy: "Halo == 6 games in 8 years, with a couple cancelled titles. "

no, Halo = 4 games, 1 spinoff, and 1 expansion pack in 9 years. can you do basic maths? Halo: CE came out in 2001. its now 2010. cancelled titles mean nothing, so i dont know why you even mentioned them. oh right, cause youre a fanboy and you just want to make halo sound like its milked. there has never been an officially announced halo game that has been cancelled. never.

"R&C == 6.5 games in 9 years, inclusive of the Quest for Booty PSN title (that's the "0.5"). "

the first R&C game was 2002. its now 2010. so it started AFTER halo, and has more games, in only 8 years: 8 currently released, another one in the pipeline (all 4 one) and a spin-off (secret agent clank).

" Halo: Reach is the first Halo to almost reach 720p, to my knowledge. Every Halo title previously has been 600p or less."

a few things wrong with that statement. Halo Wars is native 720p - 1280x720. ODST was never going to be 720p since it was an expansion made using the Halo 3 engine. and Halo:CE and Halo 2 were on the original Xbox, meaning they couldnt possibly be 720p since the console wasnt capable of it lol.

oh and if you and the PS3 fanboys want to call GT5 1080p, then Reach is 720p, as neither of them have the standard horizontal resolution for their respective resolutions.

[jidery]

According to this guy, Halo wars isn't a halo game, and ODST is a $60 expansion.

Shows his ignorance right there

[IHateYouFanboys]

@jidery:

read what i said. Halo Wars is a spinoff. when Halo is primarily a FPS, releasing a well-received RTS game isnt really considered 'milking' the franchise. "milking" is like what they do with Madden - yearly releases where they dont really change much, just update. how is making a game of a completely different genre even remotely the same?

i never said it wasnt a halo game. i just said that its a spinoff, and its made by a different developer too. its not like Bungie made Halo 3, then Wars, then ODST, then Reach, all in 3 years.

and yes, ODST is an expansion pack. if you bothered to actually read my comment you would see that Bungie called it that, but Microsoft Game Studios - the publisher of the game - wanted to release it at full price, so they got Bungie to repackage Halo 3s multiplayer onto its own disc to include with ODST.

so for $60 you get: ODST, an expansion pack to Halo 3 + Halo 3s multiplayer. i mean, does the name of the game not even ring bells in your head? its called Halo 3: ODST. if it was a full on sequel, wouldnt it be just called Halo: ODST?

Price has NOTHING to do with a game being classed as an expansion pack or a full title. or are you telling me that because i can pickup Lego Rock Band for $30 brand new that its not a full title, but an expansion pack?

price is just that - price. means nothing in regards to what a game is or isnt.

[Unicron]

One can milk a FRANCHISE and not have every product be the same. Star Wars is a heavily milked franchise (cereal!) and yet its main media was movies.

IhateyouFanboys, I should really clarify. I don't want to see yearly versions of these titles. I love MGS. I think Halo is great. But when you make it annual, you strip out what makes it special. It feels like a cash grab, not an event worth being excited for. The brand becomes diluted, and invariably quality suffers. I think Halo deserves better than that, and I think MGS deserves better than that. I want a new MGS or Halo when there is a REASON from the CREATORS to have one, not simply to sell a few more units with a run of the mill sequel.

[kaveti6616]

He's here again, gentlemen, to comment on a game he hasn't even played.

You're the same turd as the last account you were using. Tell us who you are Number47. Please, just tell us.

[Newtype]

They should put Halo to a rest, this probably explains why Bungie left.

[Halo_Reach]

Halo Wars 2 - 2011
Halo 4 - 2012

[Britney Spears]

pretty sure they won't number them anymore and remember that bungie is not making them ever again.

[sickbird]

they are so out of touch, do they not listen to gamers or do they just not care? kudos to activision? gamers like that they release the same game every year? give me a break what gamers are you talking to?

[kndy]

well if you look at the sales, the average is gamer is practically telling them 'take my money doctor, i am ready for my annual dose of cod and madden up the rectum'

my solution, stop caring. as gaming became more and more mainstream, it was only a matter or time before a Britney Spears or a Lady GaGa of marketable games would show up. and thats just what cod and madden are. whored out talent that is getting milked for money. every once in a while one might make a big influence on the industry, but after awhile every iteration is really nothing new. since you are here on this site, you already know that, so just accept it, and the business model, and move along. go jam to some indie games or some shit.

btw, i consider halo to be like the led zeppelin of video games: both huge fucking whores to the industry, but still full of great content. and both imo some ways overrated, led zeppelin moreso (oh no i didn't).

[gamer8179]

Why should they put halo to rest? Because it sells so great? Because it has a ton of fans? If people are willing to buy something, then its not milking it.

[big_silky]

There are what, 10 R&C games, 1 every year? Multiple games with the Final Fantasy name every year with multiple series? That's what I call milked. There have been 4 full Halo games in 10 years, nowhere near being milked.

[SuperStrokey1123]

Prehaps not but soon it will be every year. Hell we haev had 3 in 2 years...

[antz1104]

"Prehaps not but soon it will be every year." Are you basing this off of your super intuition, lol?

Wars was a different genre offshoot and odst was less than great. Everyone admits that. Reach on the other hand is an exceptional game, and def not a milking of the franchise. Good way for Bungie to go out.

[Gray-Fox]

Heh, it's funny how you include spin offs in the count for R&C and FF. Yet for Halo you only include "full halo games" not including anime, spin offs, books, etc.