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SvennoJ on 30 October 2023
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VAMatt said:

With the benefit of hindsight, I don't see how anyone can vote for anything other than Halo. That's one of the most significant games ever released, in any year. Not only is it a very good game, but it has been hugely influential, spawned a franchise that was a juggernaut for a decade or so, and continues to be significant over two decades later.

I could make a case for GTA III. It had significant societal impact (though I think that was mostly negative at the time), and it really put that franchise on the map. And that has gone on to become arguably the most important franchise in gaming.  But, being that it wasn't the start of that franchise, and I don't think it impacted other games as much as Halo, it's pretty easy for me to put Halo above it.

I don't see how any of those other games even belong in the conversation. Some of them are really good games, but they're just not even remotely close significance to Halo or GTA III. 

The modern FPS genre had already been shaped by Half-Life, Counter Strike, Unreal Tournament, Quake Arena and Golden Eye. Had Halo not been poached by MS it would have been just another good FPS in the crowded FPS genre on PC.

The impact GTA3 made on gaming was and still is far bigger. Open worlds had been done before, both in shooter and driving games. However GTA3 combined both with a living breathing city, while also providing a satirical view on the real world. Ever since GTA3 open world became the golden standard for games, so much so that games got marked down for not being open world (enough). I would say, GTA is part responsible for the death of track arcade racers but added to the appeal of TDU and Forza Horizon games.

Some objective metric which franchise had the bigger impact:

As of March 1st, 2021 Microsoft has sold over 81 million Halo games since its 2001 inception.
The highest-selling game is Halo 3 with 14.5 million sales

With more than 405 million sales between them, Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto series is one of the best-selling video game franchises of all time. As of August 2023, the GTA V edition in the Grand Theft Auto series was the highest seller, with 185 million units sold worldwide since initial release in 2013.

My personal favorite of the original XBox was Project Gotham Racing, which also launched in 2001

And awesome arcade track racer which I enjoyed each and every entry of. I wish MS would bring this series back.
It's the game that made me pull the trigger on the new kid in town.