Studio manager Harold Ryan says Microsoft's online platform "wouldn't have made it" without sci-fi shooter series.
Without Halo, Xbox Live may not have survived. That's according to Bungie studio manager Harold Ryan, who recounted the run up to Halo 2's launch in a GamesIndustry International feature published today, which is 10 years to the day after Xbox Live debuted on November 15, 2002.
"I think Xbox Live wouldn't have made it. I don't think the Xbox would be where it is today without Bungie and without Halo," Ryan said. "As a group, we provided both technical and creative guidance and thought leadership that really pushed the limits. We weren't just a game developer using the service. We were integrated in the design of the service and how it worked. Systems for groups and matchmaking and skill ranking were all things that were pushed the furthest and the hardest by us.”
Xbox Live has grown significantly since its debut in 2002. The platform currently boasts 40 million members, with Xbox Live Gold users logging an average of 84 hours on the service per month. Additionally, games are only one part of the service.
Microsoft announced in March that gamers in the United States spend more time with Xbox Live entertainment applications like Netflix and ESPN than they do playing multiplayer games.
Microsoft is even sending select Xbox Live subscribers a free custom Xbox 360 console to mark the service's 10-year anniversary.
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
I can understand this, Halo really has revolutionized video games. Not that other games haven't, but after getting introduced to the Halo universe with 3 back in 2007, I played the other two immediately and fell in love with the series. And with Halo 4 being better than ever, I really can say that Halo is my favorite franchise. (Along with the Souls series from From Software. ;) )
Those were the days, staying up till two in the morning, or sometimes all night playing Halo 2 or Splinter Cell PT.
As much as this sounds like a sore loser's parting words, I have to admit it's probably true. I activated XBox Live back then solely because I wanted to play Halo 2 online.
Ten years later, I really don't give a shit about Halo (or any other generic blockbuster shooter for that matter) anymore, but I have been using XBox Live almost continually ever since for all my other games.
Ghost Recon 2, Summit Strike was my favorite xbox game. I played that game to death. I didn't play Halo till after the 360 was released.
It's called a Killer App, that's a golden rule for any system or service launch, Xbox LIVE wasn't the first online service, you had Sega Channel and SegaNET back in the 90s and 2000s, but they all lacked a Killer App for the orginal Xbox LIVE it was HALO 1 and 2, Ghost Recon, and MechAssault
2 Like So true. If it wasn't for HALO 2 and GEARS I would not have an Xbox. Although Gears over time has become a laggy suckfest over the years, Halo has remained a staple to Xbox lives success. And I must admit that I really enjoy Halo 4.
Mech Assault was huge before Bungie did anything on XBL. Crimson Skies as well. Sounds like Bungie is bothered that Halo 4 is much better than anything they could've done.
@Vodoo I think that they are thinking about stuff like party system, whgich just about EVERY live game has got today. It started with Halo 2. The xbox did have other games, like the ones you mentioned, and Counter-strike. God I played a LOT of counter-strike on the original xbox!
@santinegrete @Vodoo That game was wicked and I'm hoping that their will be a sequel but I might have a better chance of one my cats to grow wings and fly.
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@GamerMani I don't see how you can even compare the two, when XBL is an online service and Steam is a digital distribution service...
1 Like @realguitarhero5 Maybe because Xboxlive already does digital distribution of games. But I think he is being a fanboy and thinks we have to pay to play multiplayer with Steam games, just like him.
@_Silent_Jay_ @realguitarhero5 Yes it is, ... I swear to you I was good on irony before :D
In fact, Sega GT Online (an online only game) was released almost a full year before Halo 2 came out. Xbox Live was popular - Halo 2 just exploded it...but the service was definitely gaining momentum.
While it's true that Halo 2's matchmaking & ranking system was top notch and innovative for it's time, other games were excellent as well. Rainbow Six 3 & Ghost Recon were what initially sold me to go Live when that came out. Project Gotham 2, Midtown Madness 3 were other stand out titles for Live as well. Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Soldier of Fortune 2, Crimson Skies (seriously, where's the sequel already???), and Counter Strike also had a huge fanbase.
I still wish I could play original Xbox games online. I'd kill for some Rainbow Six 3 games online. Vegas just wasn't the same.
The only reason this comment is made is because they want credit for something they gave(or sold) away. Otherwise it would be a very reduntant thing to say. If it weren't for Halo and, god forbid, COD, then how popular would XBL be? Not saying it wouldn't be, but how many less users would it have?
@steelmouth Create an hotmail account and when they ask for your location tell them you are on the states, and European contry listed, or Mexico. You can play XboxLive that way and purchase dlc and games that way.
5 Like To do something. Anything. After doing the same thing for ten years, anybody would get tired, (sick of it) to say the least. Creative people need to do different things.
@wasakaka @commando1992 Agree absolutely. While I never had an X-Box and owned a Halo game, I can still understand Bungie wanting to do something new. As in my case as a PS player, Naughty Dog has been switching it up: Crash Bandicoot, Jak and Daxter, Uncharted, and now they're doing The Last of Us.
@wasakaka @commando1992 Very well said wasakaka. Could not have said it better myself...Bungie is now able to sell their games to Sony and Nintendo as well.
@Armysniper89 @im-a-roustabout @wasakaka @commando1992
I think the reason people buy Halo 4 is because there is no other exclusives for the 3shitty to shove in the faces of your friends with better systems.
@im-a-roustabout @wasakaka @commando1992 I think the reason Halo 4 is successful is that Bungie WASNT in it. You can get bored doing the same stuff also and not imaginative. We are seeing that in other industries too...
hmmm i only played halo 2 because of its is all people seemed to want to play the same as now with cod. but i feel halo 2 was the weakest gameplay wise the original was awesome the 3 rd game was awesome reach is awesome and loving halo 4 so far. i think with out halo other games to play multiplayer would of stole all the thunder and got people logging on. but has halo was there and was a quality game its what got people logging on.
@jtthegame316 How was halo 2 weakest in gameplay? Spamming duel wielded weapons and flying around with the energy sword's massive range was fun as hell
Naa...
Halo was a generic, mediocre shooter at best...
Well, then again, look at COD's success. :P
7 Like While Bungie's claims are likely true (I don't know I had a PS2 instead of an XBOX) thing is that neither XBOX Live nor Halo have suffered from Bungie's lack of involvement. Anyway good luck what is now called Bungie, I really hope you put out something that makes me reconsider my Activision boycott, but somehow I doubt it, you only capture lightning in a bottle every so often.
1 Like Back then, I was so focus on buying a Gamecube but all of a sudden, I ended up buying Xbox only because I wanted totry something new other then Nintendo and Sony, boy I was blown away when I play Halo and I was glad that I did not buy Nintendo Gamecube but I did buy one later along. this is how I look at it, Half-Life change the way we play FPS, Goldeneye added MP and finally Halo Revolutionize FPS. Back then if it was not for Halo, Xbox as we know today would not exist and for all we know, this Gen would have been just Sony and Nintendo. If anybody says that MS is Milking Halo, then you need to understand that Halo is MS game just like Mario is Nintendo.
3 Like @VALikimlav Agree but I'm waiting to see if 343 will make Halo 2 Anniversary HD since I enjoy the MP.
1 Like @EasyComeEasyGo They will, it's easy money.
Last year we got Halo Anniversary, this year Halo 4, probably next year we get Halo 2 HD.
A shame they didn't give us Halo 1/2 in an HD pack for $40, but it makes more money selling them separate.
@PSYCHOV3N0M @EasyComeEasyGo Perhaps if they want to be exactly on time, but maybe they won't use the Anniversary part, we'll see. :P
12 Like This is all too true. I, among many of my friends on XBL, first gave it a shot through Halo 2. If H2 hadn't released and gotten as popular via online play as it had, I can say with absolute certainty that the Xbox would've been the next Dreamcast. Quite frankly, Microsoft owes their console success to Halo. Period.
1 Like @yearssomuch While Halo was amazing on the original Xbox - if that's all you played...you sorely missed out on some other fantastic games.
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