I'm not acting like their decision to copy COD is some form of artistic expression or anything. It's just what makes the most sense for them to make, or what they feel they can make or what they feel people want to buy etc.[/quote]
They (and we) have the gaming statistics that show Halo players don't want either in the game. As DY mentioned the drop off in Halo 4 online play was quick
lol I could throw what you said right back at you. Games cost millions of dollars to make and establishing new franchises even moreso with less potential for return than new entries in established and popular franchises.
It's either that or you kill your main franchise chasing after another franchise's success (said success that is on a downward trend, while your old proven formula has been on a continuing upward trend). Very rarely do you chase downward trends.
In business you rarely change your formula during an upward trend, and you don't really double down on poor attachment rates that can adversely affect the next outing in a negative way.
What you can do is establish a new franchise or create an offshoot of your established brand utilizing a smaller budget as a test bed of sorts for finding what your consumers want/don't want. And in that regard, Halo fans were pretty clear that they didn't want ADS/Sprint in Halo. One only has to look at Halo 4's MP attachment rate (and how hilariously fast it plummeted) to see that adding COD elements wasn't something consumers want in their product.
So why the hell would anyone create an entirely new franchise to make something so similar to an established and profitable brand they already own? So their fans can sleep at night knowing their precious Halo is peacefully at rest?
So that they don't loose their current userbase chasing after another franchise's userbase. Halo 4 already showed us that 1. COD fans didn't migrate to Halo because...they have COD. 2. Halo fans aren't receptive to COD elements in their game. So...who exactly where they going after? New players? There are not nearly enough "new" players to cover the losses from old players quitting. While it's early in XBO's life and they're likely expecting low sales numbers based off that. Alienating long term Halo players for these new players isn't smart, because the next outting (Halo 6) will suffer for it. They make a calculated risk and know that they'll lose some of their long term users, but the hope/aim is that there will be enough new players to make up the difference. But what if they lose too many long term Halo players and don't get enough new players? Then Halo 6 comes out, those long term players continue to leave (chances are MS would force 343i to regress to tradition Halo mechanics, but let's pretend they don't) and Halo 6 doesn't onboard enough new players. Your product is now on a downward trend, it's hard to correct downward trends because you're now fighting against the general consumer assumption that it'll be "the same shit, different day".
You can really apply this simplified consumer-product-company explanation to any sector and it'll hold up. You have to balance keeping your existing base with attracting a new base. Your blase ideology of "fuck the old base because" rarely works in real life, doubly so in the videogame industry.
Most Guilty Gear fans can't even tell the difference between versions, but actual players have criticized some of the new mechanics in the game. Such as the addition of YRC and added slowdown to the RC mechanics. Really hurts the pace of the neutral game when characters can YRC backdashes for 25% meter for the slow down to see a mixup, or cancel a super move with YRC to make use of the invul startup frames without consuming the resources for it.
but as a fan I'm going to buy it, play it and form my own opinion. If I don't like it, Accent Core +R isn't going anywhere. Has all the characters and the mechanics I'm used to.
And if they quit making GG you'd be upset (or you can front and say you're fine...which would be a lie). Because without people to purchase their games there is no reason continue to make the games. That is why forsaking your current userbase to get the userbase of another existing and successful franchise isn't the smartest play, because many times you'll end up with neither in the end. Point in case DmC. They alienated their DMC fanbase in order to get a new nonexistent at that point fanbase and they ended up losing majority of the DMC fanbase, and this new fanbase wasn't enough to make up for that loss. DmC ended up selling less than half of DMC4 despite the fact DMC4 came out in 2008 when there were only like 55m PS3/360 users to DmC's 140m PS3/360 users.
They gotta make you a game. That's it. It doesn't have to be tailor made to your expectations.
But they do, if your statement was true then every game that has ever been created should by definition be a success by every definition of the word.
They have to make a game that you're willing to buy, if no one buys your game then you fail, it's as simple as that.
Both sides don't owe the other anything. All you can do is play what they put out, or not. All they can do is make the game they can make and see if people buy it/ like it.
Capitalism disagrees with this. The end goal is always more profits. You can't attain more profits if you don't respect your userbase. Consumers are only going to be loyal to you as long as your company maintains the illusion that you're loyal to consumers. The instant you remove that facade is the moment where your profits will suffer. Apple has mastered this like few companies can.
Sucks if you buy products solely out of brand loyalty, but honestly that's a dumb position to be in to begin with.
See above passage, again your views are that of one of those people feel like they're removed from "typical sheeple" mentality. Brand loyalty is very power and very much a driving force of capitalism. Ignoring it or dismissing it doesn't make you look smarter than the average person or enlightened. The complete opposite really, it just shows you have a tenuous understanding of how the consumer-product-company relationship works.
