CVG

Microsoft's franchise development director Frank O'Connor has revealed what he thinks is the key to Halo's success.

Speaking in the 100th edition of CVG sister mag Xbox World 360, O'Connor said.

"Honestly the secret of Halo's success is that it has something for everyone - a deep, rewarding sandbox of engaging vehicles, cool weapons and challenging AI."

"A sci-fi adventure for fiction fans. A sense of mystery and wonder for folks who like that sort of thing. User Creation tools for would-be game designers, and of course, competitive, exciting multiplayer."

"I'd hazard to say there are a lot of folks who haven't tried Halo, who think they might not like it, who would actually find some really engrossing facet of what's a very richly featured game."

Halo passed hands from Bungie to 343 last year following the former's last hurrah with Halo Reach, which hit 33 billion kills in December.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=283876

"A sci-fi adventure for fiction fans. A sense of mystery and wonder for folks who like that sort of thing. User Creation tools for would-be game designers, and of course, competitive, exciting multiplayer."

That for me.

Imo Halo first game was a hit and a half, creating a large fanbase that has carried onto the next games, similar to COD scenario. I love Halo to bits, and did so since 2001 on Halo:CE, the final level of CE is what I still remember the most lol, out of all my gaming exploits.

I'm definitely in it for the story.

I'm in it for the "deep, rewarding sandbox of engaging vehicles, cool weapons and challenging AI.".  Seriously, its what makes playing campaign missions so rewarding compared to most games ...... when there's no Flood or bugs. 

Love it for all of those things :D

I agree, flood is what was the worst for me in Halo, it wasn't too bad in 1st one, but 2nd and 3rd were f'ing infested with those shitty flood levels. I really did hate those little bastards.

What about the platform JRPG lovers?  What do they get?

I get his slant but no, the secret to Halo's success is timing - it launched on Xbox at the right moment to catch a big desire, particularly in US, to get PC FPS on a console at fraction of cost of HW and playable in your living room.

Halo was a good FPS that Bungie balanced very well for consoles with an interesting backstory/Universe and a nice mix of gameplay a'la a Valve title but a bit shorter and with some weak elements (to be fair to Bungie they were working to a daft deadline due to Xbox launch).

Halo 2 sealed the deal but the other stuff he's talking about came gradually as the franchise increased.

But it's secret goes back to the timing/launch of Halo, not the Forge or stuff that came after it was a done deal.