What could a different Microsoft studio do with Halo?

Halo Infinite has been a contentious game for fans. Could one of Microsoft's newer FPS studios create a fresh Halo experience?

[SullysCigar]

Hopefully, make a complete game with all the promised modes and enough content to entertain for more than a couple of weeks of play.

343i have had enough chances. Everyone was up against the pandemic, not just them, but they had FAR greater resources and financial backing than other devs - not-to-mention time AND delays - and still we're left with a half-baked game.

Move 343i onto something more their speed and give this franchise to a proper developer, before it's damaged beyond repair.

[Tacoboto]

343i is named after a character in the franchise, they can't exist and *not* be a part of Halo. What I'd think to be most ideal would be to convert 343 into a publishing group, and hand dev responsibilities to other studios. Halo Wars were good games. MCC in its current state is really good.

But executive and managing decisions are also a fundamental problem for them, so I hate this idea too. The studios I trust to make a good Halo game I'm more excited to see their own stuff - and Certain Affinity only seems to have multiplayer experience. I don't want the franchise to end either, because it does have good fundamental gameplay, just surrounded by buts. Tight controls, but desync. Smooth traversal, but limited maps. The biggest campaign yet is focused on Chief, but only one biome.

[Obscure_Observer]

"Move 343i onto something more their speed and give this franchise to a proper developer, before it's damaged beyond repair."

Lol. A game that has a 87 Metascore and 80 Usercore.

Please. You´re not concerned with Halo and never has. Say what you want but the truth is that Halo Infinite is a great game.

People talk shit about Halo as a half experience while giving Naughty Dog a pass when they promised Factions to be released Day One as full game! And guess what? To this day we saw nothing after almost two years! Not even a release date. And you don´t see Xbox gamers talking shit about Naughty Dog telling they should be replaced. Or Polyphony with their atrocious GT7 launch.

342i is fine and will continue to make Halo games whether you like or not. FYI they´re already working in a new one as we speak, so, in other words, bad news for you.

[ChubbyBlade]

Sorry but you’re delusional if this is your take. 343 has consistently released games that lose over 90% of its audience within a few months.

[Christopher]

***343 has consistently released games that lose over 90% of its audience within a few months.***

Regardless of whatever argument is being had above, this is a poor argument since this is almost every single game out there. That's how games work and why they keep releasing new ones every month.

[Knushwood Butt]

'And you don´t see Xbox gamers talking shit about Naughty Dog telling they should be replaced. Or Polyphony with their atrocious GT7 launch.'.

You just did that exact thing you say Xbox gamers don't do!!!
Have you ever played GT7?

[RedDevils]

Lol comparing 343i to Naughty Dog who consistently release multi awards winning games one after another, breaking record in all front. Damn must a biggest joke ever.

[AmUnRa]

O boy OO this one off the worst and delusional comment you wrote on N4G.
The lies in this comment are just cringle.

[1Victor]

@obcure
Going by what a few N4G hardcore Xbox fans said the game wasn’t as good as other halo games.
You can’t compare a 3rd person SINGLE PLAYER ACTION/Shooter game developer to a first person shooter developer that’s WELL KNOWN / PRIDEFUL for its MMO gameplay and divert the attention by saying oh the other guys did it and no one say anything, I thought that you was smarter than that but I guess I overestimated you.
Does the game need a new developer I can’t tell you I never played it I can only go by the comments here from the hardcore Xbox fans that say yes, but let’s be real for a second it won’t happen till Microsoft see a drastic drop in revenue from the game players 🤷🏿

[BehindTheRows]

If there was ever a time you show how out of touch you really are, this is it.

[Gunstar75]

I play halo every day. Even if just a couple of matches. What 343i have made is actually really very good. The problem is the pace at which they are releasing content. They have barely kept the hype fire smouldering

[Crows90]

Perfect dark for N64 released with more content.

[Mr Pumblechook]

Q: 'What could a different Microsoft studio do with Halo?'

A: Have professional project management so the game launches on one date complete with the single-player and multiplayer elements as well all gameplay modes and features including the Forge and campaign splitscreen.

[Atom666]

It's staying with 343.

Despite all of the ups and downs, and the vocal fans (and non-fans), 343 has yet to make a bad game.

4, 5, and Infinite may not be anyone's pick as the best Halo, but they've all been good. Right now, it's hard for me to play Infinite and not recognize that Halo has never felt better to play.

Hopefully they've sorted out their management and production issues because there's a lot of talent shown in the game itself.

Between HW2 and Infinite, it seems like they've figured out the right direction on the story. With Infinite, gameplay is right where I want it.

All of this "half-baked" talk is console war drivel to me. They have some stuff to work out like forge and Co op. That's fair criticism. But it's a really good game, and it's a good Halo title.

[KicksnSnares]

Id Software should take over the Halo franchise, and 343 should work on a new IP

[Tacoboto]

I mentioned a couple weeks ago I'd like to see an id ODST title. They could really go far with that, especially if they can work in a story involving the Flood. They also know how to do a quiet deadly protagonist better than most as Doom 2016 and Eternal proved.

But as I said above, I'd rather them create their own games as opposed to being the fallback for what essentially is another studio's failure

[Lightning77]

Bingo.

People wonder why 343i management has tanked in the past 3 to 4 years of development. It's because there's no passion in creating Halo for the time being. They need to give the IP to someone else maybe I'D over at Bethesda. Have a brand new take on Master Chief and the Halo universe.

If no other studio wants to make it, then shelve the game and make a brand new IP. Get the team excited and passionate again. MS has what 31, 32 Studios now? Halo needs to take a back seat, just like Gears is taking a hiatus.

GG released KSF while graphically impressive it didn't live up to the other Kill Zones. So GG went to Sony and asked to do a brand new franchise. Now we got the Horizon games and is a very successful IP. The same needs to happen to 343i. Again to get the team excited and engaged and passionate again. Halo Infinite is a sad passionless state because of it.

[RedDevils]

Even Bungie got bore with Halo. How much can you milk from a franchise that cannot get any better.

[Obscure_Observer]

The only developers that I would trust a main Halo game is Bungie or Valve. None of those studios are Microsoft´s, so, I think I would not complain in case Obsidian or Machine Games would step in and take over some spinoff Halo game like Reach.

[HyperMoused]

New Bungie?

[porkChop]

Valve? Wtf? How would they ever be right for Halo? They've never made anything remotely like it.

MachineGames is great for SP, but they aren't great at MP. So they would need to collab with someone like id Software potentially. I would love to see that.

I could see Obsidian doing something like Outer Worlds in the Halo universe, but I'm not sure that's the direction the series needs.

[Obscure_Observer]

"Valve? Wtf? How would they ever be right for Halo? They've never made anything remotely like it."

Halo is a game that heavily relies on physics, IA, vehicles, innovative weapons, level design and gameplay.

Due Valve´s track record with games like Half Life and Portal, I belive they would be perfect for the job.

[porkChop]

I guess I understand what you're saying. Halo and Half-Life have some surface level similarities. But the style and feel of gameplay, storytelling, etc., are just miles apart. In Half-Life Valve put a heavy emphasis on interactivity and puzzles, be it a jump puzzle, physics-based, etc. Halo doesn't really do any of that.

Maybe they could pull off a spin-off like ODST, where it's its own thing. But I don't personally think they'd be a good fit for a mainline Halo game. I think the resulting game would just be too different, even though it would probably be a good game in its own right. It just wouldn't be Halo. Their approach to game design is very different from Bungie, and even 343 which itself is made up of a lot of ex-Bungie devs.

[Review_Rush]

Drop it, look at some new IP for now

[ChubbyBlade]

Tactical marine based shooter. Play as the covenant during the invasions. Make it M rated again and keep it far away from 343

[CrimsonWing69]

I know no Halo fan will agree with this, but I’d love a 3rd person cinematic Halo game that’s really heavy on atmosphere and narrative. Think in terms of if Naughty Dog made a Halo game. Give us really detailed and unique environments, cool and elaborate boss battles, new and old enemy varieties.

I know, I know, I’m ready to get downvote bombed, lol.

[VersusDMC]

2 halo rts already exist so i doubt people would lose their minds...as long as they explicitly say it's a spin off and not the new direction for the series.

[Antnee534]

Honestly just needs to give it to a different studio. Since they got I'd software if I were in charge I would approach them to see if they are willing to make a halo spinoff as a test and if it does well continue ahead with them as the halo dev. Then give 343 a chance with their own ip and if that fails just close 343 and move the talent to other studios because that's proof enough they are not good as a developer but as help to others.

Tldr: give ID software a chance with halo

[Knightofelemia]

The same question could be asked about Gears of War as well. A new studio isn't going to do anything with the franchise that hasn't all ready been done. Even when Bungie and Epic owned these two franchises the games started to go down hill. I love Gears of War but the games just haven't been hooking me in like Gears 1 and 2. Gears 4 and 5 I thought Gears 5 was just boring and Gears 4 was ok but it wasn't a day one for me. I have played Halo I am not a big Halo fan but I enjoyed Reach, 1, 2 and 3. I have yet to play Halo 4 but I have played Halo 5 and I thought it was boring. Honestly Microsoft should give Halo and Gears a break and try working on a newer franchise for now

[HyperMoused]

A change would be good, id like to see a gritty war torn darker Halo

[ApocalypseShadow]

Was thinking the same thing. Besides the obvious developer change and finishing a game to be complete, Halo is a war that's not even gritty. It's teen level to sell to the masses that no longer sells to the masses. Bungie left because they were tired of making it and Microsoft wasn't allowing change.

But as we've seen with GOW, a game can be changed from it's original and still be a hit. Capcom learned it too with RE7. Sometimes change can be a good thing. It needs to be darker toned. At least try it. Not exactly Killzone 2 dark. But Killzone 2 did a lot of things right. Part of that was being a gritty war and destructible objects. And enemies getting filled with holes with blood spillage. Infinite being open world is fine. But it's the same Halo. All bright and happy. Gears of War even does a better war feeling.

They need something different. The new systems are more than capable of providing that grit, lighting effects like light coming through bullet holes in walls, scarier aliens, better physics and explosions. I thought all that money they were spending was going into making their flagship a tour de force. That didn't happen at all.

[Elda]

In the year 2030.

[moriarty1889]

Make a complete game in a normal amount of development time maybe?

[Doomeduk]

Make pillow and duvet sets
Is this one of those free to enter competitions ? I like them

[FlavorLav01]

Let us fight somewhere new besides another ring for starters. Give us alien living quarters and camps/communities instead of the constantly sterile diamond-cut environments and overly large uninhabited structures we’ve seen since Halo:Combat Evolved. Have co-op campaign at the start. Let us play a campaign mission or two from a new enemy perspective like they did in 2. As a single player first kind of gamer, these are just a few recommendations I can think of.

[TheColbertinator]

Halo dancing game plz

[Crows90]

The question is what Bungie could do with halo if they had it still. Other Microsoft studios have different focuses. It's be interesting what ID would do considering their take on the new doom and of course wolfenstein

[GamingSinceForever]

At this point I think MS is the problem not their studios.

[moriarty1889]

Very good point. MS either doesn’t stay on top of their studios progress or someone isn’t doing their job properly. The results speak for themselves.

[darkrider]

What about a new fps, new universe, new story, fresh start. It will be very hard for halo to regain is glory days. The hype was to much for 343 or any studio. They hired some of the best on the market got 5 or 6 years to make the game, 500+ millions for budget. But the pressure of the name halo was too much.

[Godmars290]

What can you further do with a franchise based on the best of the best in powered armor who fought aliens and won?

[Murdability]

Anything lol

[Father__Merrin]

Ditch the open world and go back to linear story

[mark_parch]

Just listen to the fans. Every single time 343 release a game they solve one problem bug create two more.

[XBManiac]

Wait for Activision Studios support... wait... wait... now! (it is now year 2048)

[AngainorG7X]

A lot

[babadivad]

Better...