I think it will be a trend with pretty much all major XBOX exclusives this gen that they will have a sharp decline in sales. A lot of that has to do with the fact that 360 stole a major thank of Playstation 2 players last gen which gave MS a whole new user base that tried these franchises like Halo, Forza, Fable, and Gears (pretty much the only XBOX franchises that sell well), and that user base is back on PS4 now.

We can already see this in the fact that Forza 5 despite being part of one of the top selling XBOX franchises is about to be outsold by Driveclub which is a brand new IP that had a less than ideal launch. I think this gem franchises like Uncharted, Last of Us, God of War will effortlessly outsell Halo, Gears, and Fable.

I've played every Halo game except for the non FPS sidequests. Its almost like Microsoft took a page out of Sony's book with storytelling. Its just great all around and if this is where Halo is going, continue to count me in, because I was going to give up hope when Reach dropped. Halo 4 is a must buy. If you ever get MCC, i'll play Halo 4 with you if you like.

The market is simply over saturated with the FPS genre diminishing the overall brands. Even Call of Duty is starting to see a decline, people are tired of the "same old shit" but I have no doubt in my mind that Halo 5 will sell at least 8 million lifetime.

It's very interesting to read this point of view. Microsoft taking a page out of Sony's playbook vis-a-vis presentation was, in tandem with the adoption of Call of Duty-style mechanics, the worst thing to happen to Halo, at least in my opinion. Prioritizing storytelling and presentation over drum-tight gunplay and improvisational gameplay sapped the soul from the series.

Anyway, most critics and consumers agree with you, so I'm very much in the minority on this one. 

I have to agree with Stage. Halo 4 converted me over to 343. I am more excited about Halo now more then ever now that Bungie is gone and 343 has it.

I think the Halo 5 MP beta is one of the best online experiences I have ever enjoyed.

And more proof to your point has to be Destiny :p

If the link you have there says this, then Im sorry for this, I cant see the iage for some reason.

Not a big halo fan even though I own them all. I have yet to try the Beta on 5, but my son tells me that it is a great game.

With that said, I don't think Halo is itself in decline, but the FPS genre is just so bloated that no game can maintain its market share.

Ditto

It's a 13 year old franchise. COD took over in 2007 as "redefining" and now it's dying too.

Trends change and rarely is any video game franchise, that's essentially the same thing over and over, is going to last for a decade.