OXM

Halo used to be top dog in console multiplayer circles. Halo 2, in case you missed the memo, was the first runaway Xbox Live success. Then Call of Duty came along, stuffed the envelope full of Claymore mines and blew it over the horizon. Hard luck Bungie, and hard luck 343 Industries, faced with the unenviable task of taking the baton in a post-Modern-Warfare world.

"We had Xbox #1 spot to ourselves for years," 343 bossman and Bungie veteran Frank O'Connor commented ruefully when OXM asked him how 343 felt about its competitors. "You said Call of Duty and other shooters, but it's basically just COD."

http://www.oxm.co.uk/33616/halo-4-dev-theres-a-lot-of-stuff-cod-does-beautifully-that-we-should-do-better/

I think its admirable for Microsoft and 343 to want to make a superior product to CoD. However since CoD:MW2 CoD titles have outsold Halo games. Infact the highest selling Halo title to date Halo3 lost out to CoD:MW2 sales wise. With Reach also failing to actually sell more copies. So this means that Microsoft needs to work harder to get more of the Halo user base online then the CoD user base.

But lets face it the majority of the people who purchase Halo or CoD do so with the intent of playing it online. So sales figures are the biggest indication of which title will have more online activity.

The day Halo over takes CoD on X-Box consoles is the day they retake their top spot! Until then they have no chance in competing with CoD! Also the CoD series since MW2 has been improving sales with every addition. If you don't count World at War CoD has been on a steady incline sales wise for years.

Halo on the other hand has not seen steady increases. Halo3 outsold both Halo:ODST and Reach. Which shows that Halo's user base has peaked if Microsoft wants to grow that user base any bigger they will need to attract new gamers. Right now the Halo fanbase makes the Halo series, but Microsoft needs to expand.

Halo4 is 343's chance to expand that market share. But they need to worry about loosing existing fans as well. If they do something that changes the Halo games too much they will loose dedicated fans but if they don't do anything new to attract new fans they won't expand!

The only superior thing Call of Doody has is the way that it constantly gets rehashed yet droves of people still buy this crap...

Interesting comments by the 343 Dev. I would agree Halo is no longer top dog although it still draws a very large user base that keeps buying the new installment. It is one of the biggest exclusive titles on the market for any platform.

All 343 Industries needs to make sure they do are:

  1. Develop an amazing story campaign that keeps the concept of Halo alive while creating new challenges and brand new experiences in the adventure. They need to have some of the best story writers in the business for this next trilogy. I think they seem to be off to a good start.

  2.  Include an incredibly customizable multiplayer with improved gameplay, graphics, weapon systems, specials.

  3. Really push for a huge online community and include them as much as possible.

  4. Continue the extra modes like Firefight or something like that that will be exceptionally fun.
 
  5. Add something a bit extra to the game that is new, inventive, and offers a new experience that gamers have not seen in FPS titles yet.

  6. Keep a lot of mystery around the new trilogy. This will gen up excitement and curiosity.

  7. Continue a HUGE advertising campaign. This will also rev up hype and make every hardcore gamer talk about the series. Chatter among gamers is good!

  8. Lastly. Just keep the concept of Halo what Halo has always been.

If they implement these practices I have no doubt that they could have a real shot of gaining more of a fan base than they currently have and even possibly top a Call of Duty title on their platform. It really is possible.

Winning- They are doing it right.

Fixed.

It's not like that is exactly hard to do.

Like they don't do that with Halo =p!

you don't even know the definition of milking