| kowenicki said: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2010/sep/22/microsoft-want-more-regular-halo-releases Microsoft want to see more regular Halo releasesMore like Call of Duty? 343 Industries is thinking a lot about how to take this franchise and turn it into something that people feel like they have an ongoing relationship with and they can entertain themselves more often. But it's not, hey every November 6 or whatever we have to ship a game and build a production plan around that. We want to do things that make sense as a first party. Spencer also uses Call of Duty as an example of a franchise that maintains release frequency and high quality. I'll just, again, be honest as a gamer. I used to look at annual releases of non-sports games as people just trying to milk me. I figured nobody had enough time to do a good job, and all of the negatives that we would associate with those kinds of scenarios. Kudos to Activision because they've done a good job building a good game, continuing to release each year and I think the fans feel like it's a good thing that they do that. I think there are some things to learn, some positives and some opportunities, in what they do with that. Obviously they've kept the quality extremely high, which I think is important. |
I had an ongoing, daily relationship with MySpace from 2004 until 2008. Facebook lured me away and became my new ongoing, daily relationship. I don't have the same relationship with a particular video game. I don't play Grand Theft Auto 4 everyday just to check if Niko Bellic replied to my email to stop introspecting like a vagina, I don't play Fallout 3 everyday to see if that crater of what was Megaton has sprouted some radioactive vegetation, and on. The only game I had come close to having a relationship with was the World of Warcraft and it was with the people playing the game in my guild, not Blizzard's content patches.
Release a new Halo game sounds great in the wake of Halo: Reach which debuted 3 years after Halo 3, but you will not see the 10 million every year if you release a new Halo game every year.
You need time to build anticipation and hype, otherwise it becomes Halo2k12, Halo2k13, Halo2k13, and on watering down any meaning and worth the franchise once had.
I think this is not a bad idea, but an absolutely atrocious one.
