Xbox boss Phil Spencer recently took part in a wide-ranging interview with Kotaku, and one of the topics he was asked about was the potential of shipping the delayed Halo Infinite in parts to release it as soon as possible.
Spencer was non-committal in his response, telling the outlet that 343 Industries would drive those decisions, but also admitted the team "can look at options like that", and that it could be "something to think about" as long as it factored into the structure of the game and the story it's telling.
343 has already confirmed that Halo Infinite's multiplayer will be free-to-play when it eventually ships (which will include 120FPS support on Xbox Series X), so it legitimately sounds a feasible option to release it separately.
With that in mind, what would you do? Given the choice, would you ship the campaign before the multiplayer or vice-versa to get the game out as soon as possible? Or do you think we should all just be a bit more patient and wait for the full game to be finished (hopefully fairly soon)? Give us your vote and comments down below.
[source kotaku.com]
Comments 25
Based on the footage that we've seen, isn't the campaign more open world compared to previous games? It feels like you're going to be spending dozens of hours playing it as opposed to the usual 7-8 hour linear campaign. In other words, I think it's more than fine to release the campaign first and then the multiplayer portion later on since the story is going to be lengthy anyway.
For me personally I would want the whole finished game at once not bit by bit
Probably wouldn’t bother with MP so the campaign would be nice first. It’s fine if they just released whatever was ready.
Also I think it would be rather silly to release the multiplayer portion first without letting people experience the story. Lots of maps would spoil what kinds of environments the campaign is going to have, not to mention eventual new weapons/abilities and so on that would be more fun to discover naturally.
Om top of that, we live in a time when we don't need both SP and MP components at the same time. Look at PlayStation for example, Ghost of Tsushima is getting its MP months later and The Last of Us Part II still hasn't received its. I feel like the tradition of buying a game and always getting both campaign as well as multiplayer at the same time has become outdated now.
I think it's better for the developer to focus on making each component amazing one at a time instead of splitting their focus and potentially making two mediocre components. I also don't think 343 should take their time with releasing both SP and MP at the same time. Halo Infinite has already been delayed indefinitely and we've already waited too long to play a new Halo game. Just release the SP portion first so that we can at least play something while we wait for MP.
With gamepass, it is ok to release this game in parts. First release single player part 1, then multiplayer, then SP part 2, then new multiplayer maps and so on. Halo Infinite could end up as a game as a service which gets updated infinitely.
Just release it at a full package.
Get the game up to the acceptable qualify expected by the team, Phil and fans, then come out all guns blazing with ads, bundles and gameplay videos.
I wouldn’t mind if they release them separately. I used to play the MP in Halo, but I have less time now & get wrecked repeatedly so I stick with the campaigns.
I just want 343 to make the best game that they can, so whatever lets that happen, I am 👍🏻 with.
Nah, just let them take their time and get it all out at once.
Let's not rush this out and lose the impact of such a big release. We can all wait and enjoy the hype and anticipation.
Mixed feelings on this. I voted "yes but only if it's campaign first." But it depends. To me, the campaign & coop is the game, and competitive MP is just a little side add on for giggles.
But I tend to forget Halo has this CoD kind of thing going on with it's MP where for some the deathmatch is the whole game. So more than other games this one is harder to do that with. Or is it easier? Ghost of Tsushima is a poor comparison. Who bought GoT for its multiplayer? I don't understand why since the late 90's every single player major game has to bolt on some kind of screwy multiplayer just to say it has it, just to look relevant. I'm of the mind that a game should be a multiplayer game that does the best at multi or should be a single player game that is a great campaign or story. If it's a multiplayer only game and tries to add a campaign it tends to be a few hour tutorial for the multiplayer. If it's a single player game, the multiplayer ends up being a bolted on "me too" feature to check it off the focus group's list.
But Halo is old school, Quake & Doom style, where it was primarily a single player game for which the tacked on me-too muliplayer deathmatch gained its own life long ago and became its own full game. Halo 4 and 5 missed the mark and put everything into the multiplayer. Infinite seems to be all about resurrecting the true campaign. But the MP is going to be super important to it as well.
On one hand that makes it harder. Split the game, and you've now split the fan base between those that want the campaign and those that want the MP and you've lost the hype impact.
On the other hand, Halo such as it is, really IS two different games at this point. The single player campaign is to be a full game, bigger than any other in the series, and the MP is to be a full GaaS 10 year lifespan CoD/R6 Siege competitor. So in that sense, splitting it isn't a bad thing. It's really two full games already, anyway. But I also don't like drip-fed content. It might do better to rebrand. Halo: Infinite could be an all single player & coop game, and Halo: Combatus Ifinitus: Before the Patchus or something could be the online-only competitive game with separate launch icons.
343 originally said there was going to be flighting for Infinite like what's happened for MCC in the past 2 and a half years. So what I think would be most effective is to start the Infinite flighting sometime after Halo 4 launches on PC and then release the game when it's ready.
No, Campaign and MP should be released at the same time..
@Medic_Alert What are you talking about? Killer Instinct did well.
Better not try charge me full price for the campaign then. Especially since I don't even want the multiplayer.
I would be down with this as a limited beta for Multiplayer only. That feels more reasonable and would let them get the servers up and running. Even if it’s only three maps and limited options, I’d love to play some multiplayer Halo over the holidays. Heck, give me Blood Gulch and legacy weapons only, and I’d be happy. Given the way single-player is set up, it feels like that would be harder to release piecemeal. Whatever helps sell the most boxes so Microsoft can make more.
Presumably, the main reason they delayed the game was because many people thought the visuals were incomplete or unpolished in the campaign demo. Graphics is a factor in all modes, so it makes sense to release them together. If they come up with any gameplay ideas or tweaks in the meantime, those also might show up in both modes.
If they only released one mode initially, it would still be impossible to ignore that the rest got delayed. It wouldn't completely satisfy players who enjoy both (or all) modes. They might as well wait.
I’d prefer them seperately, especially if that would mean seperate achievement lists, because I’m only going to play the campaign anyway. I (almost) never play online multiplayer.
@Medic_Alert the reason Killer Instinct ”sold less” than a million copies is because it was mainly a free to play title, so those copies probably only includes the retail version. It had over 6 million active players when season 3 launched. It did not tank, it was a successful fighting game.
I'm half interested in the Campaign - I feel 343 really need to really bring a true Halo and next gen experience and 1 game away from losing me as a fan of the franchise. I couldn't care less about the MP and never have.
I have NO issue with MS releasing either part as and when they are actually ready to release. Its not as if they are 'selling' both as a package like previous games as the MP is Free to Play. I really don't see why it should be held back until the Campaign is ready (or vice versa) because of this. If they were selling the MP, then maybe it would be better to sell as a package.
Therefore I voted to release whichever is ready first. It seems the most logical thing to do because they are not selling both as a package...
@graysoncharles agreed, online can suck one for all I care.
I think it totally makes sense to at least beta an early multiplayer release. Halo MP is definitively XBOX and it's absence at launch is very unfortunate.
Honestly I see no point in rushing this game. It will be a lot better if they just give it the time it needs.
I want Infinite to be one complete game at launch although I think it will have content added so no Halo 7. People need to remember it's cross gen so set graphical expectations accordingly as long as it's 4K60 campaign on XSX and @1440 60 on XSS its the quality of the campaign that matters most to me after Halo 4 & 5.
The MP is it's own free to play portion anyway.
And because of gamepass I would not mind being able to play one before the other. I enjoy both.
I think that multiplayer could launch first, spoilers are the risk to consider, however, with game-pass and the option to download the parts you want to play, I could see this as a natural progression with 1st party Game Pass model, with full releases being held back for physical/digital purchases only.
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