In light of MW2, what can Halo Reach do?

[xerostomia]

The real question is 'who is playing MW' and 'who is playing Halo'. By this I mean, what is the demographics for each game on the Xbox, what is the overlap, and then try and correlate sales predictions based on this demographics. Of course we do not have this information, but we do have some trends over the last 2 years. My suspicion is that the demographics of Halo encompasess a larger age spectrum.

1. Halo 3 and CoD4 were both released within a couple of months of each other 2 years ago. 2 Years is a petty long time, and both have sold well over this time. Halo 3 is outselling CoD4 10:7 (roughly), and for the last 18 months, month over month has outsold CoD4. This suggests that Halo 3 is more popular than CoD4.

2. Halo 3 frequently has entered the top 10 sales per week over the last several months.

3. Though both rated 'M', Halo 3 is more sci-fi, more unrealistic, and cartoony. Thus parents are not opposed to their kids playing this game. CoD is more realistic, more blood, and has mature themes. Parents are less likley to allow their kids to play this game (I have a 9 year old, and I let him play Halo3, but will not let him play CoD). Halo 3 is like star Wars, yes there is violence, but I never see blood when playing multiplayer.

4. Halo Universe is quite popular. Many books, many toys, costumes, and soon Anime cartoon. The Marketing of Halo 3 was far far greater than CoD:MW2. Halo Mountain Dew, Halo posters everywhere, Spike TV and other channels had TV shows of the midnight launches with the numerous parties across the country. Everywhere in Walmart/Target/BB etc, big cardboard cutouts of master chief with a battle rifle and the slogan 'finish the fight'.

5. As others ave mentioned, if this is Bungies last Halo game, everyone will want a piece of it.

6. Many people have read the books, and the reality is that the story has not ended. There are many other stories (like the ending in 'Ghosts of the Onyx' (my favorate halo Book) that needs resolution, and if Reach follows some of the story lines from the books, we are in for a real treat. Master Chief is NOT the only surviving spartan, there are others........

7. Halo 3 is the most played on-line multiplayer game (uptill this week). Again this suggests Halo 3 more popluar than COD4.

8. Halo: Reach will be released 3 years after Halo 3, CoD:MW2 released 2 years after. Fans of Halo 3 have to wait 1 extra year, more wait = more anticipation. Halo ODST and Halo Wars do not count. They are tools to expand the story line, nothing more. It keeps that Halo name in the headlines and just wet our appetite for more.

9. Halo 2 was the 2nd most played game on Live after Gears of War, up till Halo 3 was released.

10. I will concede that as a franchise, CoD:MW reaches out to more gamers because it is multiplatform, thus as a franchise as a whole it could be considered more popular. The problem is we will never know how popular Halo could be if it was released multiplatform. With that being said, I still suggest that Halo is more popular than CoD on the Xbox (maybe not this week, or perhaps till halo Reach is released, but then again comparing a new game to a 2 year old game is not really fair either).

With all that said, Halo and Xbox are almost synonymous, just like Mario and Nintendo. Games come and go, but at the end, there will always be Halo.