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Nobody is playing Halo Infinite on Steam as player numbers drop to 2% of launch peak

Draugoth

Draugoth

Gold Member


Halo_Infinite_Multiplayer_S1_KeyArt_1920x1080_Clean-5339.jpg

Halo Infinite is practically dead when it comes to the Steam version, as 98% of players from the game’s peak desert the multiplayer.
One of the most encouraging things about the Xbox Games Showcase is that it managed to impress without ever once mentioning Xbox stalwarts Halo and Gears Of War. Both franchises are past their peak but while there’s still a spark of life left in Gears of War it seems that Halo is effectively dead, at least on Steam.
Despite a relatively positive launch, Halo Infinite saw a swift and sharp decline in interest, with players frustrated at a lack of meaningful updates and a lot of unwanted excuses from developer 343 Industries.
The game has struggled on regardless but fans of the game on Steam have all but given up on the game, as its player numbers have dropped to just 2% of what they were at launch.
Launch figures for the game saw a healthy peak of 272,586 but a popular Reddit post recently noticed that it’d fallen to a paltry 5,732 players. We’ve just checked and – while it is the fourth of July today – that number is down to a barely credible 3,078.
That means more people are currently playing the likes of Dead Or Alive Xtreme Venus Vacation and the 11-year-old Borderlands 2 than they are the most recent Halo game. And all this despite the fact that Halo Infinite’s multiplayer is a free download.
Halo Infinite is undoubtedly more popular on Xbox but since Microsoft never releases player numbers we’ll never know for sure.
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Support for the game is continuing but it’s clear it’s already outlived its relevance, but what isn’t clear is what Microsoft will do with the series next.
There has been some talk that if the Activision Blizzard acquisition goes through they might put some Call Of Duty developers to work on the franchise but even if that did happen it would be a long, long time before any new game was released.
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mrcroket

mrcroket

Member
They screwed up a lot with the idea of a halo as a service, with a bland open world and a campaign far from the quality of previous halos, which has discredited the game and thus affected its multiplayer. That without being totally bad, its maps are not so much fun and lack of inspiration.
 
Codes 208

Codes 208

Member
I imagine the steam playerbase (which includes me actually) is a mere fraction of the current playerbase on xbox, but it goes to show that HI was the epitome of everything that could go wrong with a f2p standpoint.

Hell, yesterday i saw a thread on reddit of people calling 343 out for taking an existing color, swapping it around slightly and charging $14 for it. And this is after they had the audacity to charge $5 for the color red for that samurai core armor
kvltus lvlzvs said:
Was the campaign any good?
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It was filler. The gameplay and level design were good but after awhile the openworld feels empty and the story feels like it goes nowhere. It was mainly just a send off to cortana with extra steps
 
killatopak

killatopak

Member
MagnesD3 said:
How in the world did that win, was it just a combo Hopium and Hypium. The grappling hook in the campaign was really cool but that entire game didn't hold a candle to the old ones..
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Dunno. I don't think I ever voted on a GAF GOTY in my decade here in GAF. I simply asked for Farcry Halo even during those craig moments. What I got was a bit less than what I wanted but there's lots of cool easter eggs for Halo fans.
 
RAIDEN1

RAIDEN1

Member
Duchess said:
A few peeps on Reddit pointed out that it's more popular on GamePass and Xbox, so Steam usage isn't a particularly good metric.

Any Xbox players here want to verify..?
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After I completed it soon after it came out, there has been next to no reason to go back, unless you want to take out EVERY single camp ....plus the fact that we won't be getting any Atriox DLC, means that I recently deleted it from the hard-drive ....(good job it came out on Gamepass)
 
Roberts

Roberts

Member
kvltus lvlzvs said:
Was the campaign any good?
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It's my top3 Halo campaign, maybe even the favourite one (I have a soft spot for Reach). If you want an open world game with tons of question marks on the map then you probably will be disappointed, but I think they did a great job with how you get to control a lone badass behind enemy lines and how it is up to you to liberate the map. A more linear, more story based interior parts are fine, but the game really comes alive when you are outside. Already played it twice and will probably do one more run to get legendary achievement. I think the closest comparison is Farcry games but the overall simplicity and the modest map size works in favour of Halo.
 
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Mr.ODST

Mr.ODST

Member
Its easy to shit on the game but there were multiple flaws after the first few months, from what I can gather from the community etc here are some key points.

  • The campaign was great in its gameplay delivery but didnt have much content meaning no new things for players to return to
  • Multiplayer was great and FUN but persistent issues that should of been worked on first were failed on and are still in the game today
  • Example of Multiplayer issues that killed the scene was server infrastructure, client disconnections, crashing and more
  • Game came out with little content and rather than adding more maps and content they focused on the shop for the first year, seasons were delayed which included content and even when they came out there wasnt alot of content
 
Interfectum

Interfectum

Member
Mephisto40 said:
It's honestly baffling how many people will still to this day try and tell you this game is popular
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Indeed, it was interesting to see some Xbox enthusiasts rationalizing the lack of mention of Halo at the last showcase, claiming it was a strategic move to let other games take the spotlight. Yet, it seems the real reason Microsoft doesn't spotlight Halo is due to its dwindling player base. So, what's there to discuss, really?
 
Del_X

Del_X

Member
kvltus lvlzvs said:
Was the campaign any good?
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Yeah, it was. Better than 5 by a long shot.

Clearly held back by the engine and last-gen One S/X. Lack of environment variety and not enough seamless indoor/outdoor changes. I really don't think they should make another Halo until they address the engine. Either port the Halo "feel" to UE5 or literally build it again.
 
Holammer

Holammer

Member
Only Halo I ever played was the first one on the OG Xbox, so I'm a total outsider in this discussion. Still, by the looks of it (Steam and Xbox's top 25 engagement) they might as well take the franchise behind the shed and give it a merciful ending.

Even a functionally dead game like TF2 pulls off almost 130k concurrent.

 
diffusionx

diffusionx

Gold Member
It's amazing how badly 343 screwed up this game. They basically got a blank check and the chance to write a brand new engine and screwed up everything. MS let the multiplayer get out there for free but the entire service suite was like it was designed by people who never played a multiplayer game. This has to be one of the worst major first party dev teams ever, but they got a pass for most of their existence because... they were headed by a woman? I don't know.

Del_X said:
Yeah, it was. Better than 5 by a long shot.

Clearly held back by the engine and last-gen One S/X. Lack of environment variety and not enough seamless indoor/outdoor changes. I really don't think they should make another Halo until they address the engine. Either port the Halo "feel" to UE5 or literally build it again.
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The engine sucked (that's that 343 engineering for you), but the lack of environment variety is because they had to severely cut back the scope of the game to finish it. The open world was originally meant to be much larger.
 
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Robb

Robb

Gold Member
I’ve played and enjoyed the game quite a bit, but i dropped off a few months ago. The stream of new/meaningful/interesting content is just too slow.
 
Bumblebeetuna

Bumblebeetuna

Member
Good, the less success and money it makes the less likely they are to release such a sorry offering in the future. And by that I mean the focus on MTX and selling cosmetics over providing content and fixing the games desync/lag issues.

Gameplay wise the MP is fantastic. It’s exactly the type of MP I’ve wanted for awhile where it’s all about the guns and there are no kill streaks or any other bullshit. But the desync killed it for me.
 
Kenpachii

Kenpachii

Member
Resource hog, no DLSS.

Gameplay is also shit, need to shoot a entire gun just ot get the shield deleted. Sponge shooting isn't for me. Visually also lackbusting for the resources it requires.
 
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Timberwolf25

Timberwolf25

Member
I play it enough to get all my weekly challenges done. And now with the new progression system, I find myself playing it more.

They've done good stuff since the change in leadership. Should've done it much sooner.
I don't know if it'll be enough to bring back players, but it's getting better. I don't have any issues getting matched in games, but I don't play ranked, so that could be why.

Next season is supposedly going to have a PvE mode added if the dataminers are correct.

Regarding the campaign, I thought it was good, but disappointed at the ending. Not that it was bad, just not what I was hoping for.
 
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