The Halo Franchise is No Cash In

In response to an article named "5 Franchises That Must Die", Front Towards Gamer writer Instant Karma defends the Halo series.

[iamnsuperman]

i now i am a minority but I don't like halo/halo type of games....Think its to do with shooting futuristic laser weapons at each other. I like the imersion of shooting a real/possibly real weapon (i.e.weapons that shoot bullets) I know its a lame reason but thats the reason for me not liking halo, resitance type of games

[hennessey86]

im a halo fan not because i like lazer weapons but because i love the way the game plays it has great controls and great features and finally for the first time since halo ce it has great graphics. I dont agree the franchise has been milked. Ther are far worse companys who exploit there assets alot more than they should ie mario. Tiger woods. Fifa. Madden. Call of duty has started to go that way to

[iamnsuperman]

true i tend to buy a fifa now like every 2 or 3 years because of it being milked so much and its ashame the COd has been milked to because that could be a great game that comes out every 2 years or so but every year is rediculous......I know it has great control and other things but i am detached from the game everytime u shoot someone with a fururitic weapon and that stops me enjoying it

[Hellsvacancy]

I see what your sayin, im the same, i dont like lazer weapons or Star Wars type guns either, a shotgun 2 the face with a background covered in blood is the way 2 go, i dont mean 2 bring up KillZone (i know how it upsets sum women on this site) but the handgun youve got in that (its a bloody hand cannon man) it PERFECTLY depicts depicts what id like a gun 2 look like, big, heavy, loud and does a lot of damage, im just stickin up 4-ya

I dont like Halo, i played the 1st 2 and think its Haze 5 years earlier and i hated Haze so what does that tell ya, cal me a fanboi all u want, i know what i like, u DONT (well, u do now)

[OSU_Gamer]

I respect your dislike for Halo, but to compare it to Haze is pretty extreme in my opinion.

[DelbertGrady]

If you want weapons that pack a punch and sound great you should play Battlefield BC 2 and not Killzone. It's better in every way. And less sci-fi, since you didn't seem to like that either.

[GWAVE]

I have not liked Halo since Combat Evolved. I was a big fan of the game and was disappointed with the direction Bungie took the series.

However, I must say that Reach may change my mind. The game looks sick.

[R2D2]

Meh the game was ok but....

[Thrillhouse]

Superman, there are plenty of human weapons that shoot bullets in the series :)

[Count]

Immersion? You can't be serious.

It is a lame reason. It's like me hating God of War because Kratos uses blades. Like him using blades ACTUALLY MAKES THE GAME.

[EvilBlackCat]

There is people that hate halo and there is people that love halo...

Are both sides happy now?

I like Halo so WHAT?

Why everything about halo here is a damn controversy?

[Inside_out]

Halo is a fantastic franchise and I hope we see a yearly release for the game. Halo wars was great for the RTS crowd, introducing those game play mechanics to the Halo universe. Halo ODST was great as well with a great story, new weapons, ALL the Halo multi-player maps plus 4, new game mode in firefight and the beta key for Halo Reach. You want to compare that to Heavy rain or GOW for value...what a joke the brand X kids are.

Halo deserves every inch of the pedestal it sits on. The Lego Halo universe is a great seller. I would like to see more lego's. I want a game to tell us the grunt side of things...lol. It would be nice to see a Lego Halo game. I would like more of the story to come out,like a Halo reach comic to tell the Halo reach story...more add ons and definitely spread the wealth to the PC community. Halo Reach will be epic in every way as will Halo 4, holiday 2011.

[Xelai]

Milk in?

In almost 10 years the saga has produced 4 full titles, an RTS and an expansion.

Other sagas in the same period would have had 11 releases.

Call of Duty since 2005 to 2011, 6 years, would have produced 9 titles, counting since 2003 would add a 10th title and one expansion.

Gears of War would have produced 3 titles in 4 years.

Killzone and Resistance and Uncharted have similar numbers.

Just decide for yourself if the saga is a cash cow or milked or it is not.

[asdf12]

I just didn't like the feel of Halo.

It didn't grip me quite well to be quite honest.

[BeaArthur]

I like the way everyone is talking about "laser guns" but there is only one actual laser in the game.

[asdf12]

Yeah, i forget what it's called but dual wielding it is pretty fun.

[ActionBastard]

It absolutely is a "cash in", it's the most popular exclusive franchise on the 360. There aren't yearly releases or anything, but the amount of media saturation on the games gives the appearance Halo is COD (in terms of releases). It's not a bad thing to be a "cash in" game (GT5 is for Sony and anything Mario is for Nintendo).

[Natsu X FairyTail]

you forgot MGS.

[Conloles]

Its not a cash in if they release the games and they keep making good games (excluding ODST but that was meant to be an expansion needlessly held back by MS).

[telekineticmantis]

or in the same time frame, and the games are seperated by time. You can't cash in on a game when you continuosly take away what makes the game familiar to it's fans.

[XactGamer]

"MGS is almost never about the same character" What? Two words... Solid Snake

[-Alpha]

When you say "cash in" you imply that they don't care about releasing their product with the care and passion that developers have. It sounds like "cash in" implies that the game is lazily stuck together, etc.

Now, Halo ODST and Wars seem like the main games that are attacked for this.

Yet, ODST's story was largely praised-- yes it was short, yes the MP was the same, but they had a SP as long as other games out there (Heavenly Sword, Bioshock, MW2, etc). with an added co-op mode.

I see no reason why ODST gets bashed so much around here when it seemed to have been a quality SP experience. Why does length determine quality for ODST?

As for Halo Wars, it was an RTS spin off. Perhaps the fact that it was a spin off is what makes it seem like a cash in, but the game was liked as an RTS-- sure it wasn't the best RTS, but it was good.

I don't consider Halo "a cash in". Milked? Probably. There is a definite media saturation, but so what? It's a fan favorite, and if fans want things like comics, games, spin offs, etc then give it to them. I am not concerned about Halo yet, but once Bungie leaves it off to 343 Studios I will get concerned. I find Bungie has done a lot of work with the Halo franchise and I really enjoy the effort they put into supporting Reach's beta

[hennessey86]

if there isnt a yearly sequel i dont get it. Yes it is a popular franchise but that doesnt mean they are cashing in on the franchise halo made online play the norm on consoles. Ive loved every halo game except wars because thats not my type of game. There has never been a bad halo game in my opinion.

[InstantKarma]

I preference my interpretation of a "cash in" in the article itself :)

[Demarco156]

cant wait for halo 2011

[thwolf94]

halo 1, 2, 3, and reach are all 3 years apart but that's with bungie. If 343 releases halo 4 in 2011 then the series will sadly drop

[telekineticmantis]

It's definitely a cash in and microsoft knows it. My Boss bought Halo wars and had no idea what it was, he didn't even know RTS's existed till that game. It has been proven that the name halo sells by itself. ODST proves the name Halo followed by first person shooter is worth 4 million copies. To give people the maps they already have all over again is on the verge of sadistic. Knowing these things they released 2 unsatifactory(to a fps fan atleast) titles last year knowing people would waste their money on them. Yes it's definitely a cash in. The mere fact that while Reach was in development, we were seeing articles talking about Halo 4 being worked on is rediculous.

[Convas]

(1) ODST was a great game, and it's not Bungie's fault MS (The Publisher) decided to take advantage of the Halo name. And you say that these were 'unsatisfactory purchases, but that's just your opinion. I know a lot of people who enjoyed both Halo Wars and ODST. Also, some people who bought ODST didn't get the map packs, so it WAS a convenience for them.

(2) So what? 343 is in pre-production of Halo 4 which won't be coming to the 360 but the NeXbox. Bungie was working on Reach. Two different Halo titles, that likely won't share space with each other on the same console. More than likely their won't be a FPS halo till the next Generation.

[OSU_Gamer]

"To give people the maps they already have all over again is on the verge of sadistic. "

It would be sadistic if that was the only thing it was offering. ITs not like the main selling point of the $60 game was giving you the maps that you already have. To me it was a bonus because I honestly did have the maps included.

I agree that the Halo name sells more copies based on just a name than almost any other series, but that doesn't automatically mean the games are bad. The overall metacritic scores for both games were better than average, not to mention I really enjoyed both Halo Wars and ODST, and I'm positive many other did as well.

" The mere fact that while Reach was in development, we were seeing articles talking about Halo 4 being worked on is rediculous. "

I think its understandable when the next game in the series is being made by a different company. It would be completely different if Bungie was working Halo 4 while they are working on finishing up Reach. Since 343 Studios has never worked on a Halo game, it will probabaly take them more time to reproduce what Bungie already had established game after game.

[telekineticmantis]

The question is whether it is a cash in. Not who is cashing in on it. A title that had 3 games in 2 years that's over doing it. The fact that people accept it and excuse it is what offends me because if it was any other game the franchise would be discredited. They do it with Call of Duty, Even mario gets discredited, I can bet Mario Galaxy will barely be recognized when it comes to awards. Why? because the core of the industry really has no respect for mario anymore, any respect they show is cosmetic and shallow they don't really mean it. Things like this really makes me feel that the industry is shady.

[OSU_Gamer]

3 games in two year is a lot, but remember that Ensemble, a completely seperate team, made Halo Wars.

[jdktech2010]

3 in 2 years is a bit miuch but 6 in 10 isn't bad.....God of War has had 5 games in 5 years including PSP games so if anything is a cash-in or being milked, that's as good a candidate as any

[ForROME]

Well heres, the deal, what people have failed to understand is HALO did a few things in steps.

1: HALO CE set a graphic bench mark on consoles that was just a sight to behold with a great story, and the first time you friend jumped on the back of a warthog with you in co op, you were floored

2: HALO 2 to me, is the ONLY game, to say hey, CONSOLE ONLINE GAMING is real, its here, and its fun as hell

3: HALO 3 it was story closer, and a multiplayer refinement, but nothing really stood out, but it was a formula

4: ODST this is what you call a gap filler game, it was made to fill in a gap of the HALO story and was just a different perspective

5: HALO Reach this game is really for the HALO 1 fans, more than anyone, for those who never read the books, or dont know how to read at all, this is a story filler

Bottomline, Halo isnt popular because it came up with some magic, its just a formula thats easy to jump in a play, with a decent story line and controls.

If you are one of those gamers who says, well its all the same, well so are lots of things, when you eat a sand which you like, you say thats my fav meat, you buy it again at the store you make another sandwhich, you like GTA? well you buy the next GTA, is GTA that different, lets be real, no they arent not. Mario Yay more castles more princess more bowser, yet we find our self playing, we have all bought repeats, to me one of HALOs major assets is replay value, you beat the game and get online and you never know what scenerio will happen next for you to laught at or get pissed and throw the controller in those MP games.

I personally would have never touched an Xbox if it wasnt for HALO, but when I did, PS2 was toast to me, and I never looked back. Bungie in my eyes is the single reason why Xbox Live stood a chance and the Single reason why the masses said, online gaming on consoles, can work and its here to stay

[Spartan DL]

I know what your thinking is "great, he has a Halo avatar, so he is gonna defend Halo"....Yup I am.

This article is very good. If you wanna talk about a game that is a cash cow, look at COD. Every single year a COD comes out and every one buys it. MW2 finally made me realize how cookie cutter the series was. And if Infinity Ward hadn't got screwed by Activision, they would definitely fall from grace. Bungie is the ideal game developer. Halo will always be close to my heart. I understand people will disagree with me, but everyone has there own opinion.

[dillydadally]

A cash-in to me refers to something a publisher pushes out the door without it getting the necessary attention or updates because they know it will sell no matter what (Madden, FIFA, and now CoD). It's something they purposely do not put full effort into knowing it will still sell, not something that simply makes a lot of cash for the publisher. Then Half-life would even be considered a cash-in.

Halo, in this regard, does not fit the title "cash-in" in the least. It's true that perhaps ODST and maybe Halo Wars could be considered a cash in, but even that could be argued. However, the main Halo games have always been in development for at least 3 years each and if you've followed Bungie's posts you'll know they put their heart and soul in this game - they really gave it their all to make it a quality, full-fledged, as perfect-as-possible game. Certainly innovative features such as a theater mode and map-making mode (now greatly improved from Halo 3) are not elements of a cash-in. I think what most people are confused over is it is a game that is given a tremendous amount of hype and media from the publisher, so if you're not a fan, it can be considered "over-hyped", but not a cash-in.

[WLPowell]

That is all you need to know, they made a MC for you to PUT CASH IN!

[XactGamer]

Every game is a "cash in" that's the point in selling it