The Halo Masterchief Collection is one of the best value bundles in all of gaming. Featuring the first four Halo games (and later, ODST thrown in for free), it’s undeniably great value for money. Or at least it would be, if its multiplayer wasn’t completely broken for months after release. It’s something Microsoft’s Halo factory 343 Industries will likely never live down – and it hangs, like the sword of Damocles, over their next game, Halo 5. They really, really, really want you to believe that lightning won’t strike twice.
Speaking in an interview with Xbox Achievements at the at the EGL’s “Battle For Europe,” Halo franchise boss Frank O’ Connor did his best to assuage fears that Halo 5 would be beset by the same sort of problems the collection had.
“Halo: The Master Chief Collection is definitely a black eye for us,” said O’Connor. “We’re not going to rest on our laurels or hide from the mistakes we made. However, I will say that the nature of The Master Chief Collection – you’ve got five different game engines, you’ve got five different studios working on it, you’ve got 343 working on putting it all together – the footprint and complexity was outrageous.
“To be perfectly honest, there were a lot of things that happened when we got it into a retail environment that we simply didn’t see in a test environment, so that’s what really caught us by surprise. We’ve been sort of scrambling to get it first in a playable stage and now we’re going to get it in a polished stage, so that people are getting what they deserved in the first place. We’re never going to back away from that or shy away from that.
“However, Halo 5 is being made by a completely different team. It’s a singular product. It was built from the ground up for this new technology, rather than being sort of dragged kicking and screaming from 2001 and forced and shoehorned into a 2014 console. So the problem spaces are still very challenging but they’re radically different. I think the beta is already a decent first step, in a retail environment, showing that we don’t have the same problems.”
It all sounds reassuring, but as with every other major multiplayer game, it’ll likely have more than a few issues of its own when it’s out. The beta was indeed reassuring though – in that it actually worked. Hopefully the same can be said for Halo 5 when it’s released.
Last Updated: May 4, 2015
Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)
May 4, 2015 at 13:01
And even it it doesn’t, it’ll still get 8, 9s and 10s from the usual suspects. Go Halo!
Hammersteyn
May 4, 2015 at 13:07
IGN, promoting Americas koolaid
RinceThis
May 4, 2015 at 13:15
Hey! LG only give 10s to Call of Duty games for best game of the year award! *Too soon?
Blood Emperor Trevor
May 4, 2015 at 13:06
It’s a brilliant collection value-wise. You even get to save money by not needing an internet connection.
Hammersteyn
May 4, 2015 at 13:07
Bwahahahaha!
RinceThis
May 4, 2015 at 13:15
Oh YOU.
Admiral Chief
May 4, 2015 at 13:07
A game working on launch? SURELY YOU JEST???!!!???
Greylingad
May 4, 2015 at 13:08
Hahaha…HAHAHAHA!!! It must be!
Blood Emperor Trevor
May 4, 2015 at 13:28
Geoff’s confused May 4th with April 1st, although now that I think about it it’s an easy mistake to make.
RinceThis
May 4, 2015 at 13:30
Oh PLZ! May the 1st be with you doesn’t work!
Lord Chaos
May 4, 2015 at 13:32
May the 1st be ever in your favor?
Blood Emperor Trevor
May 4, 2015 at 13:33
I see what you did there, and I’m not impressed. ;P
RinceThis
May 4, 2015 at 13:33
THAT’s WHAT SHE SAID!
Blood Emperor Trevor
May 4, 2015 at 13:36
She did? I wasn’t listening.
RinceThis
May 4, 2015 at 13:39
You are a heartless fiend!
ReaperOfSquirrels
May 4, 2015 at 13:36
MAYDAY <—- May 1st
RinceThis
May 4, 2015 at 13:39
I don’t remember ‘Mayday be with you’ in Star Wars 0_O
Blood Emperor Trevor
May 4, 2015 at 13:42
I know, they always talk about “daylight side of the force”.
RinceThis
May 4, 2015 at 13:42
Is that the opposite to the load-shedding side of the force?
Hammersteyn
May 4, 2015 at 14:12
I got a 1st(thirst) for April?
http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140917133525/p__/protagonist/images/6/6d/Megan-fox-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-april-oneil-yellow-jacket-400×600.jpg
Lord Chaos
May 4, 2015 at 13:31
This would make me worry. First he looses 0s now he’s loosing days. What’s next?
Hammersteyn
May 4, 2015 at 13:08
But the other guy kept saying the MP worked fine for him and that Sony also used PC sreenshots to demo Witcher 3 like MS did….
Blood Emperor Trevor
May 4, 2015 at 13:12
To be fair, my MP games in UT also worked perfectly when I played against bots.
Lord Chaos
May 4, 2015 at 13:44
You could’ve just said when you played. We all would’ve known it was against bots. 😛
RinceThis
May 4, 2015 at 13:46
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-M3AuzXepgWQ/Tbhx9x30NGI/AAAAAAAAAI4/gksVduJXuxs/s1600/five0-ouch.gif
Hammersteyn
May 4, 2015 at 14:10
this!
Hammersteyn
May 4, 2015 at 13:09
Also middle right. Tusken raiders.
RinceThis
May 4, 2015 at 13:15
Yeah, Geoff is trying to say something, BUT WHAT IS IT?!
ReaperOfSquirrels
May 4, 2015 at 13:35
LIES! Nothing works on launch!
chimera_85
May 4, 2015 at 16:29
How difficult could it be 😛