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Should Xbox take a break from Halo, Gears, and Forza(Motorsport) this new generation?

Should Microsoft give them a break?

  • Give Halo, Gears, and Forza Motorsport a break this new generation.

    Votes: 130 39.5%
  • Keep releasing Halo, Gears, and Forza Motorsport at the usual frequency.

    Votes: 199 60.5%

  • Total voters
    329

Reizo Ryuu

Member
Why do y'all keep saying infinite is a reboot? Did I miss something here? Reboot means the events of the other games no longer happened as they are starting over, infinite picks up after the events of Halo 5.
343 called it a 'spiritual reboot' in the sense that they are taking the "feel" of the game back to the first game, so new players can jump in without having played any of the others, but they aren't getting rid of any continuity.
 

FlyyGOD

Member
I would say forza is the only one being milked, halo and gears takes 3 yrs at least. I would consider new devs for Halo though.
How is Forza being milked? There hasn't been a new Forza motorsport game since launch of Xbox one 2013 and Forza Horizons has 2 installments on Xbox one . last Horizons game came out in 2018 it's 2021 now. This thread is lazy and uninformed.
 
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CeeJay

Member
How is Forza being milked? There hasn't been a new Forza motorsport game since launch of Xbox one 2013 and Forza Horizons has 2 installments on Xbox one . last Horizons game came out in 2018 it's 2021 now. This thread is lazy and uninformed.
I think it might be you that is uninformed...
 

MScarpa

Member
The few games that people REALLY want and you want to shelve them?? What is going on here lately with these posts?
 
No offense but this is a trash tier take. Is this subtle trolling or something?

Halo hasn’t seen a mainline release since Halo 5.
Gears has been three years and looks like it’ll end up being four or five between games.
Forza Motorsport will be a three to four year gap.

Interesting that you compare it to the 360 era, that’s when they actually were flooding the market with entries.

2007 - Halo 3
2009 - Wars, ODST
2010 - Reach
2011 - CE Anniversary
2012 - Halo 4


2006 - Gears
2008 - Gears 2
2011 - Gears 3
2013 - Judgement

2007 - Forza 2
2009 - Forza 3
2011 - Forza 4

They are spacing them out more than they ever have.
 
How many "Halo fans" have stopped gaming as a hobby by now? That demographic has been shrinking every year for the last 10 years.

Got to appeal to more than just Halo fans at this point.

See: God of War reboot.
I have to be honest I feel like you don't really understand the problem with Halo right now, and what is happening behind the scenes that is spurring these decisions.

First I need to reference the God of War comparison, these are two very different games in very different places. Halo already had its "God of war 2018" moment when it released Halo 4, it was a gritty more personal ambitious Halo game, focusing more on characters, Master Chief and Cortana's relationship and bringing a stunning graphical showcase and a new art style, whilst also linearizing the campaign and gameplay. Although it sold amazing and received positive reviews, it was looked down upon by Halo fans and had a very poor post launch attach rate. Halo has a very strong identity and style that God of War doesn't have, the gameplay of god of war was nothing to write home about, it was inferior to most action games available at the time. The same cannot be said about Halo, no one wanted a lot of the functions that 343 brought with these games, no one wanted this new art style, no one wanted 343 to re-envision what Halo was.

The problem Halo has is more akin to what Star Wars was going through after the prequels, because people felt so strongly about that original core identity. People never felt that way about God of War, so it was in a position where it could get an ambitious out there reboot. This never resonated with Halo fans with the release of 4 (which did bring these things god of war did).

There's a reason Halo is going through its second "soft reboot" with infinite, because the core fans felt so negative towards these new changes that 343's games fundamentally missed what the games identity was all about. Sticking to the core principles and appealing to the fans that LOVED the game in the first place (and future fans who will also appreciate the game for the same reason the original fans did) is the key here. Look at what's happening with the Star Wars IP with the new TV shows, a strong focus on sticking to the fundamnetals, bringing the true feeling of "star wars", staying true to the style and the philosophy. This is how you win the OLD fans and the NEW fans, take a look at Mandalorian.
 
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Looking at your list the Forza games seem to be the most frequent. They are also the highest scoring and most popular titles. Stopping those games would be more of a detriment to the platform over a benefit.

There were two Gears titles and 5 reviewed higher than 4 so it was an improvement over the previous title. Also the Coalition makes the best looking games for Xbox and the multi-player modes get lots of attention. Gears 6 is most likely in early development and won't be out until 2023 at the earliest maybe later than that. That's about 5 years between games and it will have a new engine to boot.

Finally there is Halo Infinite and there was only 1 mainline game the whole last generation. How that would mean it needs a break when it has been on a break for 6 years is an interesting take.

Your main point about needing more variety for the Xbox platform is well taken. That might be why MS has been investing in new studios and has at least 20 at this point. I highly doubt all these studios will be making Halo, Gears, and Forza games. The games during the X1 generation were mostly from same studios and games like Killer Instinct and Crackdown as you mentioned weren't even done in house. Why don't we look at the e3 showcase which is in 2 days and see how many Gears, Forza, and Halo games they show during the 90 minute presentation and then we can see if MS has any additional IP planned.
You could try reading the op instead of making nonsensical sarcastic statements based on you assuming what I'm arguing when the argument is clear in the op as to why I feel these franchises are in the way.
 
Halo coming out after 6 yrs and Gears going on long break now. Forza already on break. Just Horizon will come now.

You all conveniently ignored all the announced games?


Avowed
Hellblade 2
Perfect dark
Starfield
And multiple more coming from 26 MS studios.


MS is no more Halo/Gears/ Forza only company and even MS knows that.


Purpose of this thread to create needless console wars. If i was mod, i would ban such threads immediately.
Sadly for you mods know how to read and know this isn't a war thread, but you seem ready to engage for some reason. Maybe you'll find your battle in another thread.
 

The Alien

Banned
Keep 'em coming.

I enjoy all those games. The problem isn't those games/series....it has always been Microsoft over-reliance on them.

Hopefully with all the studios now under their belt, the 'XBox Trifecta' games will serve to deepen the library not solely represent it.
 

Relativ9

Member
Nah they could still come at decent intervals (every 4ish years), but that said MS desperately needs new core franchises that become staple releases on their calendar, at least one. Sony has been leaning on God of War, Uncharted, Ratchet and Grand Turismo for a long time now, and people still love them...but in the mean time they've also introduced The Last of Us, Spiderman, Ghost of Tsushima, Horizon, Little Big Planet/Sackboy, ect. All of which have sold a bunch and reviewed really well...MS needs to start rotating in and out stuff like this, which to be fair to them it looks like they're working on with all the new studios under their umbrella.
 
You could try reading the op instead of making nonsensical sarcastic statements based on you assuming what I'm arguing when the argument is clear in the op as to why I feel these franchises are in the way.
I did read your OP and as many people pointed out it makes no sense. I took the time out to explain why it made no sense but I am certainly glad MS didn't ask for your opinion. MS now has over 20 studios. Plenty to make new Halo, Forza, and Gears games AND plenty of new IP. Cheers.
 

MarkMe2525

Gold Member
I haven't been a gears fan from gears 2 and on. I feel as if I'm constantly fighting the controls and the locomotion feels limiting. I love Halos floaty jumps and smooth movement. I will play forza a little just to check out the graphical updates. I have been an Xbox first guy since 2001 but I gave never really found the core 1st party franchises that compelling.
 
Pssh, Halo 5 sold 5 million in 2 months, Halo MCC sold 2 million on Xbox and 1 million on Steam, Forza sells 2 million per entry, Horizon sells double what Forza does, and I don't know about Gears but I assume those still sell millions too. The Halo Gears stuff is a myth.

They need to keep those franchises alive. Did any other 1st party Xbox game this generation even sell over 1 million copies? I'm seriously curious, I know D4 and Quantum Break didn't.
 
Pssh, Halo 5 sold 5 million in 2 months, Halo MCC sold 2 million on Xbox and 1 million on Steam, Forza sells 2 million per entry, Horizon sells double what Forza does, and I don't know about Gears but I assume those still sell millions too. The Halo Gears stuff is a myth.

They need to keep those franchises alive. Did any other 1st party Xbox game this generation even sell over 1 million copies? I'm seriously curious, I know D4 and Quantum Break didn't.
While MS hasn't released any numbers, I think Sea of Thieves has done well. Wouldn't surprise me if both Titanfall and Sunset Overdrive also did over a million in sales. More than than likely.
 
I did read your OP and as many people pointed out it makes no sense. I took the time out to explain why it made no sense but I am certainly glad MS didn't ask for your opinion. MS now has over 20 studios. Plenty to make new Halo, Forza, and Gears games AND plenty of new IP. Cheers.
No you didn't, you never address the reason why in the OP I said these franchises were in the he way. You are like a handful of others you didn't actually read the op.
 

Zannegan

Member
I'm always in the "add, don't subtract" camp, by which I mean, instead of wanting a company to make less of a certain game or franchise, I want them to scale up so they can make more of something else while still putting out what is working for them.

I think when people complain that a company "keeps releasing the same three franchises," they usually aren't annoyed at the games themselves (unless they're suffering in quality from the rush, like some of the Assassin's Creed games). Rather, they aren't fans of that series, and they're pissed because they don't have anything they want to play.

Insofar as it's financially sound, companies should try to put out a broad swath of games abd genres so they have something for everyone. Alas, the more usual approach seems to be making one big game that tries to be all things to all people (and usually ends up being bland, IMO).
 
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I'm always in the "add, don't subtract" camp, by which I mean, instead of wanting a company to make less of a certain game or franchise, I want them to scale up so they can make more of something else while still putting out what is working for them.

I think when people complain that a company "keeps releasing the same three franchises," they usually aren't annoyed at the games themselves (unless they're suffering in quality from the rush, like some of the Assassin's Creed games). Rather, they aren't fans of that series, and they're pissed because they don't have anything they want to play.

Insofar as it's financially sound, companies should try to put out a broad swath of games abd genres so they have something for everyone. Alas, the more usual approach seems to be making one big game that tries to be all things to all people (and usually ends up being bland, IMO).
This right here. And I agree with the "add, don't subtract" mentality.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
One Halo and one Gears game per generation. An offshoot game like Gears Tactics is fine every once in a while.

As for Forza they got two series. Horizon seems to have a lot of draw so two games per generation seems doable. Circuit racer FM should be once per generation.

To keep them going, just do tons of DLC.
 
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I get the trolling, but if you don't support and look to please your own fanbase with sequels to some of your beloved IP. You aren't going to make much money either.
It's not trolling, it's called you lacking perspective and being selfish. A good chunk of Sega's beloved IP weren't beloved until those IP were dead. May not be you but the sales were bad at the time for many of them.
 

Vagswarm

Member
Never should core franchises be omitted from a console generation. If anything they should be the absolute best games on their respective platforms. When they're not, the platform usually doesn't perform as well.
 
It's not trolling, it's called you lacking perspective and being selfish. A good chunk of Sega's beloved IP weren't beloved until those IP were dead. May not be you but the sales were bad at the time for many of them.
I think you're trolling, but if not I'm sorry.

SEGA had a very nice range Joe NFL games on the Mega Drive, did they look to build on that for the Saturn? After a shaky start SEGA's Victory Goal/WWS morphed into a quality football game, did SEGA look to build on that for the DC? and If there was one thing the DC needed, it was a quality football game (NFL is not football btw) SEGA made Shining Force into a quality series for both the MD and Saturn and did SEGA look to build on that with the DC? worse still they didn't even bother to use Camelot on the DC at all. A little Blue hedgehog sold well on the Mega Drive and Master System and did SEGA look to build on that for the Saturn?. I know giving Sonic to Sega America to mess up was a mistake given how hopeless Sega America was in the 32bit age, but SEGA should have had its main Sonic Team developed the title

You need to please your own fanbase as well as trying to get newcomers with sequels to the fanbase fav IP and new games. This was something MS did very well with the 360 but didn't handle quite well with the One
 
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BlackTron

Member
I think that Nintendo has held back releases before to give third parties room to sell games. But MSFT has such a severe problem with exclusives to lead the pack, I don't think it's the right move for them.

Sure we bought some other games after getting a Switch with BOTW in 2017. But without BOTW, would we have bought the Switch to begin with?

MSFT won't sell third party games on their system if they don't first convince people to buy it with exclusives. They need all the help they can get. Sony certainly has no issue releasing critically acclaimed exclusive titles ALL THE TIME without cannibalizing third party activity.
 
I
No you didn't, you never address the reason why in the OP I said these franchises were in the he way. You are like a handful of others you didn't actually read the op.
I absolutely did address the point about how Halo, Gears, and Forza are taking away from new franchises. They are not. Did you actually read my post? MS has over 20 studios and has plenty of resources. 3 franchises aren't stopping MS from making other types of games. Their showcase is tomorrow. I bet a million dollars they show more than Halo, Gears and Forza. It's not that people didn't read your post it's that they just don't agree that's why the poll results are what they are.
 
I think you're trolling, but if not I'm sorry.

SEGA had a very nice range Joe NFL games on the Mega Drive, did they look to build on that for the Saturn? After a shaky start SEGA's Victory Goal/WWS morphed into a quality football game, did SEGA look to build on that for the DC? and If there was one thing the DC needed, it was a quality football game (NFL is not football btw) SEGA made Shining Force into a quality series for both the MD and Saturn and did SEGA look to build on that with the DC? worse still they didn't even bother to use Camelot on the DC at all. A little Blue hedgehog sold well on the Mega Drive and Master System and did SEGA look to build on that for the Saturn?. I know giving Sonic to Sega America to mess up was a mistake given how hopeless Sega America was in the 32bit age, but SEGA should have had its main Sonic Team developed the title

You need to please your own fanbase as well as trying to get newcomers with sequels to the fanbase fav IP and new games. This was something MS did very well with the 360 but didn't handle quite well with the One
Shining force wasn't much of a seller outside some modest sales in Japan for some entries, Sonic was on a downward spiral each game release on the Genesis and their first game to tease before Sonic Xtreme came out (later cancelled) was a blip.

Pleasing a fanbase works when it's stable not when it's constantly shrinking. In that case you need fanbase+everyone else, and if everyone else isn't buying you aren't making much money.

Sega had put out many great games on their consoles but several of them were niche or peaked early, you aren't looking at this from a business lens and I get it, it sucks, but least be honest with what happened.

Look at the handful of games on the Dreamcast they did continue putting out appealing to the fan base, which had higher software sales than the Saturn, yet most of them did worse than before.
 

Godot25

Banned
Such a stupid question.

Problem with Microsoft wasn't Halo + Gears + Forza. Problem with Microsoft was "It's only Halo + Gears + Forza"

With 23 studios (and probably more after tomorrow's E3) Microsoft finally have other stuff so Xbox brand won't rely on those three franchises as much as is today.

And to answer your question. The Coalition is actually developing new IP before they will make Gears 6.
 

Ten_Fold

Member
I feel halo infinite and the next gears will probably be it for the rest of the generation imo. They got all these other studios and they know they need more variety.
 
Such a stupid question.

Problem with Microsoft wasn't Halo + Gears + Forza. Problem with Microsoft was "It's only Halo + Gears + Forza"

With 23 studios (and probably more after tomorrow's E3) Microsoft finally have other stuff so Xbox brand won't rely on those three franchises as much as is today.

And to answer your question. The Coalition is actually developing new IP before they will make Gears 6.

Thats brilliant news. Where did you hear that mate?
 

Unk Adams

Banned
Gears franchise is a zombie that should've ended at 3, so yes it should be retired.

Gran Turismo and Forza are highly iterative games that ideally should keep getting better each entry due to advances in technology. They should continue forever. It's only poor design choices getting in their way, not the tech.
I'll never understand why people have such hostility towards Xbox exclusives like Gears and Halo to the point where they felt like they should have "ended" at a certain point yet they won't say the same for other franchises that have been milked to hell and back from other companies or on other platforms. Gears and Halo are both still quality series and obviously sell and have diehard fanbases if they keep putting them out and promoting them. Gears 4 alone is still active online half a decade later and has made them millions of dollars in profit so why would they have ended it with 3? Forza is the best racing franchise out there right now. All three series are key to the Xbox platform and the competitors have nothing like them. If Nintendo can have Pokemon, Mario Kart, etc. and Sony can have Uncharted, God of War, etc. then there is nothing wrong with Xbox having their key series, too.
 

skit_data

Member
I'll never understand why people have such hostility towards Xbox exclusives like Gears and Halo to the point where they felt like they should have "ended" at a certain point yet they won't say the same for other franchises that have been milked to hell and back from other companies or on other platforms. Gears and Halo are both still quality series and obviously sell and have diehard fanbases if they keep putting them out and promoting them. Gears 4 alone is still active online half a decade later and has made them millions of dollars in profit so why would they have ended it with 3? Forza is the best racing franchise out there right now. All three series are key to the Xbox platform and the competitors have nothing like them. If Nintendo can have Pokemon, Mario Kart, etc. and Sony can have Uncharted, God of War, etc. then there is nothing wrong with Xbox having their key series, too.
To be fair, Uncharted is clearly losing steam and personally I’d like to see a new IP from Naughty Dog.

The God of War franchise was almost dead and would probably definitely be dead had it not been for a very thorough reimagination and reinvention of its most fundamental gameplay mechanics.
 

Killer8

Member
I'll never understand why people have such hostility towards Xbox exclusives like Gears and Halo to the point where they felt like they should have "ended" at a certain point yet they won't say the same for other franchises that have been milked to hell and back from other companies or on other platforms. Gears and Halo are both still quality series and obviously sell and have diehard fanbases if they keep putting them out and promoting them. Gears 4 alone is still active online half a decade later and has made them millions of dollars in profit so why would they have ended it with 3? Forza is the best racing franchise out there right now. All three series are key to the Xbox platform and the competitors have nothing like them. If Nintendo can have Pokemon, Mario Kart, etc. and Sony can have Uncharted, God of War, etc. then there is nothing wrong with Xbox having their key series, too.

People do say those things about those franchises though.
 

Megatron

Member
No, keep them coming. Forza, especially. There aren't a lot of good racing games any more. We need Forza.

Halo and Gears are cool too. I'll be curious to see what Gears 6 looks like on the new hardware.
 
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