Na i don't think it was an executive decision at all. If anything, it was to me a sign of how gamers are not playing games today they way they used to in the past. Maybe Halo4 did make some mistakes, but it was all by design. One thing that COD has done since COD4 is change the way casuals play games online. And those casuals are the people who made Halo2 huge back in the day. The reason they play COD now is because in that game, everyone can be good. Get a few kills, get a lot of points, call in a UAV, a chopper, a turret, whatever. The game helps the gamer be better at the game and in the end, its an ultimately more gratifying experience to them than Halo is. Get 5 kills, unlock a scope, camo, etc.. its constant "instant gratification" in that game. And it does that very VERY well.
Notice how the huge games all have a lot of "instant gratification" in them now. Thats what 343i tried to do with 4, give more incentive to the people who arent that good at Halo to be good at Halo.
The ideas behind instant gratification and progress are so open to interpretation, that it is surprising that Halo 4 takes concepts for those ideas that were already out there instead of trying something new. Even then, it botched the execution of the copied concepts to a certain extent. It took ideas that were flawed already in other games and didnt try to improve them, instead they slapped exact same broken system onto this game. Usually you are suppose to be given stuff, like skins, attachments and unlocks with an investment system. There is nothing wrong getting something out of investment. Its a pretty neat idea, it really focuses on longevity and replayablity. The problem however is what you put behind such an investment system. Skins and armor unlocks are harmless, but weapon and perk unlocks do more harm than good. It gimps players by forcing them to use sup par weapons and perks. In the long run it creates more player frustration and irritation. Reach walked a fine line by doing pre-set loadouts, a fine comprise in hindsight.
Execs can force such a system, but its on the designer to implement it. There are so many other ways to get the same result, without falling into the same traps. For example, the commendation system could have been expanded and put on the for front of it all. Make it the first thing you see after you finish a match. Players get that instant information that they have hit milestones and have unlocked certain cosmetic items. Make the loadout system class based or even playlist specific. It is something familiar to casual players and more long time players are not alienated. There are more ways to keep player interested in your game, the above is just an example, without comprising the actual gameplay.
This might sounds controversial, but the loadout system has kind of become next the armor lock. They both stunt the gameplay unnecessarily and punish users for nothing. At the core the loadout system is to add value to the game and add more power to the player. The biggest problem however with that train of thought is that it goes against the established sandbox. The cost of it is that now its being broken down, instead of the sandbox as a whole being embraced and respected. Things work because they are limited and used at the right times, it being so open and unlimited just shows that too much of a good thing can be bad and totally destroy a very competent game. I hope they totally rethink their gameplay and player investment system in the next Halo. There are other ways to entice and keep players coming back. There are tons of examples in how to do it correctly, look at Starcraft II, League of Legends, Team Fortress II.
Their galleries are available on CGHUD too :
Shae Gallery -
Axis Gallery
My favorite SpOps map. From the pictures I get the impression that it was larger originally, seems tons got cut
