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[Thirty7ven]

After a strong debut, the long-awaited 'Halo Infinite' game now appears to be struggling to retain players

On the world's largest game platform, Steam, "Halo Infinite" is struggling — despite being touted as "the biggest launch in Halo franchise history."

www.businessinsider.com

The game's player numbers average a daily high of 30,000 concurrent players on Steam, according to Steam's public statistics page, and it usually has about half of that. That's a significant drop from where it was at launch, when it ranked as one of the top five most-played games on the platform.

Comparatively, the top five games on Steam average approximately a quarter million to a million players. That puts "Infinite" well out of the top 10 and firmly in the bottom 20% of the top 100 games on the platform nearly two months since launch.

(...)when pressed for more information, Xbox representatives pointed to a tweet from late January that states that 20 million people have played the game to date and declined further comment. (...)And Steam isn't the only indication that interest in "Halo Infinite" is waning: Twitch viewership reveals a similarly tiny audience. (...) The most-viewed games on Twitch — like "Grand Theft Auto V," "Fortnite," and "Apex Legends" — average over 100,000 viewers. "Halo Infinite" averages fewer than 10,000 viewers, according to Twitch's public data.

Biggest Halo ever

 

[Shanomatic]

I would hardly describe it as “struggling.”

If it were only on Steam you may have a point, but given the various points of entry for Halo Infinite, and how it appears to be performing on those platforms, I’m not really seeing the cause for concern.

 

[purpletentacle]

ah yes, Steam. the only home of the Halo franchise.

 

[anthony2690]

Isn't it like 5th in the USA on Xbox? And I believe 10th in the UK.

I think the issue is, the progression system just isn't there.

Whilst I love the game and think it is immensely fun, it doesn't feel rewarding to sink time into the game.

Hopefully they can turn it around and bring players back as they continue to update the game.

& Add a proper progression system etc

 

[OverHeat]

Have no problem finding games so I don’t care lol

 

[Little Chicken]

That article is struggling

 

[SupremeHoodie]

They sorta only released half the multiplayer. No forge, no battle royale yet. Forge is a huge part of Halo multiplayer and a BR mode is obviously a must at this point in the gaming landscape.

Personally for me it has been very fun. It truly feels like Halo 3 but with sprint. Which is what a lot of OG halo fans have wanted for the past decade.

 

[kingfey]

Steam, the new xbox player count.

 

[Nikana]

Until there is actual numbers of players on every platform these threads and articles are pointless.

 

[Thirty7ven]

ah yes, Steam. the only home of the Halo franchise.

Twitch also doesn't matter of course. Only thing that matters are feelings.

 

[SportsFan581]

Poorly researched piece. The title is still holding in there above Madden, NBA and FH5 on Xbox. People like to point out how healthy Destiny is on console and HI is beating that.

Halo is first and foremost a Xbox thing.

 

[SEGA_2012]

Shut the fuck up, journalist.
I play Infinite every day, it is a masterpiece!
It is not struggling!

 

[SlimySnake]

I dont know much about F2P games, but Halo lacked a progression system and it felt dated in todays MP world. I get that not every game has to be the same, but thats why i never went back to it. there has to be some other hook besides just good combat.

 

[Adam_802]

lol steam

 

[kingfey]

Twitch also doesn't matter of course. Only thing that matters are feelings.

The only thing that matters is the stupidity of this comment.

Halo is an xbox game. You need to count xbox players, not stupid twitch, or Steam numbers.

Its 5th most played game in xbox. Higher than destiny 2, and forza horizon 5.

 

[kingfey]

I dont know much about F2P games, but Halo lacked a progression system and it felt dated in todays MP world. I get that not every game has to be the same, but thats why i never went back to it. there has to be some other hook besides just good combat.

People are interest in BR mode these days, to apex, fortnite, and warzone.

 

[Leyasu]

Twitch also doesn't matter of course. Only thing that matters are feelings.

Yep, especially when they manifest in the form of threads from fanboys with an agenda... Keep fighting that fight warrior.

343 are a disaster, and for all of it's problems the game is great and I can find a match in seconds.

This is a bait threqd and the mods should be acting accordingly.

 

[ManaByte]

ah yes, Steam. the only home of the Halo franchise.

Steam, the new xbox player count.

Until there is actual numbers of players on every platform these threads and articles are pointless.

lol steam

 

[Aguero9320]

Between this and the UK boxed copy sales Microsoft should cancel the Activision purchase, pack up and go home.

 

[BennyBlanco]

I imagine alot of people like myself stopped playing on Steam when the campaign launched and installed it on MS store instead. Top 5 most played on Xbox. Really dumb article.

 

[[Sigma]]

Well it's in the top 5 on most played games on microsoft's store. Can we just say Halo is more popular on Xbox and these numbers aren't as significant?

 

[ANDS]

I would hardly describe it as “struggling.”

If it were only on Steam you may have a point, but given the various points of entry for Halo Infinite, and how it appears to be performing on those platforms, I’m not really seeing the cause for concern.

It has exactly the same trajectory of other "woeful. . ." MP shooters that released this year (only one of which has metrics to view).

. . .this might be the first article I've seen (certainly the first referenced on this forum) that brings attention to something that has been occurring for awhile now.

 

[Dream-Knife]

30k is a good number. My main FPS gets like 3-4k a day.

I stopped playing it because it just wasn't fun. Performance is bad, and I abhor the monetization.

 

[Topher]

I imagine alot of people like myself stopped playing on Steam when the campaign launched and installed it on MS store instead. Top 5 most played on Xbox. Really dumb article.

Ben Gilbert loves writing click bait articles. It is the type of stuff folks on n4g can't wait to post.

 

[The_Mike]

"and, according to steam, the player count on Xbox has slammed down to zero players, because steam didn't register any activity on that platform."

 

[Ceadeus]

This is the type of game that depends on constant flow of update. New maps, new mode. 343i should create a BR mode imo. Something creative that no other BR game has.

I would see a mode where players chose between multiple factions and would fight for their territory, with seasonal results for competition. A little bit like MAG or even Chromehounds.

Add AI grunts that help your team. Then introduce special event that would spawn invasions of the different enemy races of Halo. Also introduce random Skull skirmishes à la Halo Reach in this competitive mode, so players never know what to expect.

Let's call this new mode , Skirmish Royale : Invasion

 

[ckaneo]

Game might be struggling. Its lacking in content and the devs despite multiple delays dont seem to be able to fix that, but steam doesnt tell us that

 

[Nikana]

Ben Gilbert loves writing click bait articles. It is the type of stuff folks on n4g can't wait to post.

Is n4g still a thing!?

 

[Swift_Star]

The economist and business insider are both having hard times.

 

[Topher]

Is n4g still a thing!?

 

[Dream-Knife]

This is the type of game that depends on constant flow of update. New maps, new mode. 343i should create a BR mode imo. Something creative that no other BR game has.

I would see a mode where players chose between multiple factions and would fight for their territory, with seasonal results for competition. A little bit like MAG or even Chromehounds.

Add AI grunts that help your team. Then introduce special event that would spawn invasions of the different enemy races of Halo. Also introduce random Skull skirmishes à la Halo Reach in this competitive mode, so players never know what to expect.

Let's call this new mode , Skirmish Royale : Invasion

That actually sounds really fun.

 

[GHG]

30k is a good number. My main FPS gets like 3-4k a day.

I stopped playing it because it just wasn't fun. Performance is bad, and I abhor the monetization.

Let me help.

1. Play ranked only
2. Ignore the battlepass shite
3. Have fun

 

[Nikana]

Just read some comments on the Horizon article on the front page.

I puked.

 

[Moses85]

Wow, what a

 

[VN1X]

30k is a good number. My main FPS gets like 3-4k a day.

I stopped playing it because it just wasn't fun. Performance is bad, and I abhor the monetization.

Yeah if this had decent performance on PC I'd be all over it but unfortunately the opposite was true (and it had no right to run this poorly on my PC as I run more graphic intensive games without issue).

 

[YeulEmeralda]

Well it's in the top 5 on most played games on microsoft's store. Can we just say Halo is more popular on Xbox and these numbers aren't as significant?

Do we know how many people use the MS store or is MS still obfuscating their numbers?

 

[Godot25]

Game is still second most popular on Xbox Live behind Fortnite.

So... There's that.

But I guess that comparing Steam numbers is new "UK boxed charts" for success measurement.

 

[ManaByte]

Do we know how many people use the MS store or is MS still obfuscating their numbers?

Everyone playing the game on Xbox or on PC not on Steam.

 

[MidGenRefresh]

I'm not surprised. I was super positive about Infinite, I played it almost everyday for the first 2 months but there's not enough content to keep players coming back. It's a GaS with close to none S.

 

[GhostOfTsu]

That goes against everything I heard about this game. It's like the gaming media and forums are scared to talk about it.

Edit Mainstream media is now starting to talk about it too.

‘Halo Infinite’ Has Fallen Outside Xbox’s Top 5, Outside Steam’s Top 100

While Halo Infinite debuted with great reviews and a lot of talk about it being a “return to form” for the series, the game has struggled to retain players past its initial launch period.

www.forbes.com

 

[ThatOneGrunt]

I play the game every day on PC, but not on Steam because of Gamepass.

I know I'm not the only one.

 

[Dream-Knife]

Let me help.

1. Play ranked only
2. Ignore the battlepass shite
3. Have fun

I did ignore the battle pass stuff, but it makes the game feel cheap.

I just didn't like the way movement and the gun play felt. I love 1, 2, and 3 MP.

 

[DForce]

I believe it was 1st or 2nd when it launched and then it was 5th during the month of January.

It's currently dropped to 6th. Curious to see what the numbers are 4 months from now.

 

[Bernd Lauert]

Try harder, OP.

 

[SJRB]

Writer of this article:

Give me those easy rage clicks, Halo dweebs.

 

[Jennings]

This is fine. Halo doesn't need to retain players, it needs to be there to attract new Gamepass subscribers, and it is serving that purpose ridiculously well. Halo offers a great campaign and doesn't require multiplayer numbers to achieve any modicum of success.

 

[plasmawave]

It's not just on Steam, the numbers are dropping on Xbox too.
It's dropped to 6th place behind Roblox.
The point is, the number isn't going up. It continues to decline.

Most played games - Microsoft Store

 

[SteadyEvo]

Not struggling but does show that Halo has run its course. Doubt releasing another would yield different results.

Let it die MS. It’s been an amazing ride. Allow 343 to try something new. Probably best for them and gamers.

 

[vj27]

Twitch also doesn't matter of course. Only thing that matters are feelings.

And the friends we’ve made along the way ofc

But fr, halos content creators honestly solely exist on YouTube. It’s always been that way tbh.

 

[Captain Toad]

How much are people buying from the cash shop? That's what determines if a F2P game is struggling or not.