Are Gears of War and Halo still relevant or no?

[YUPPIE]

I remember in a time long gone, when Gears of War and Halo were Microsoft's biggest killer apps. These series had all indications of being trilogies and their original producers/teams faded away afterward.

But since their resurrection into further games, they seem to have not been faring anywhere near as well as I remember from long ago.

[ONCHEhap]

I know Halo kinda started going down after Reach,and I didn't hear about GoW in a while,which is probably not a good sign

[Lotus Victoria]

I remember in a time long gone, when Gears of War and Halo were Microsoft's biggest killer apps. These series had all indications of being trilogies and their original producers/teams faded away afterward.

But since their resurrection into further games, they seem to have not been faring anywhere near as well as I remember from long ago.

They're still being made, so they're still "relevant" - Halo still gives money to Microsoft because of the loyal fans, same with GoW. But these games still lack any kind of creativity and are nothing more than go from cover to cover and shoot.

[Jtbrig7390]

Relevant? Yes because they are still being made.

Are they as big of a pull as they use to be? Nope nether is and I say that as a big Gears fan.

[dope_danny]

Not really. Gears of 4 is literally "it happened...again?!?" which is the sign of a lazy sequel selling a brand which did not need more story so they just retread what they had. Its not terrible, its a fun enough game if you like Gears and i do. But the story was over and they just undid all the shit the characters went through in 1-3 to go back to square one just because the xbones insignificant exclusive library needed a brand people recognised. Its inoffensive but they tabled far more interesting ideas than what we actually got.

Halo on the other hand is a ruin. The new devs tried with Halo 4. Its not an amazing game and doesnt hold a candle to bungies games, but they tried their best with hardware over a decade old and got something fun out of it that tried new things to iterate on halo. Didn't all work but it felt like an earnest try. Halo 5 had most of the higher ups jump ship and the more personal, emotional story was utterly retconned -all because trying to make cortana a "siri killer" failed- as the new team was made of people not ready for the roles they were put in. Which meant a game was put out with a barely there plot, a single boss you fight SEVEN times. at least. And everything that made it halo was removed because they were designing it in the school of "we want these other AAA shooters audiences" rather than "we want the halo audience back". Because imitating things which have an established audience is going to make said audience drop the thing they already love for something they don't. Apparently.

I think Gears has life in it but needs to be looked at and needs to make some more out there choices. Some wanted to make it more of a horror, some wanted more exploration and less arenas of chest high walls. Sera is an interesting world with a gorgeous look to it. Halo on the other hand was a cultural phenomenon whos time has passed and while brand loyalty can keep a miniscule number hooked till the end 343's name is kind of poison to the general consumer after 5 and the mess of the master chief collection. I don't see a Halo 7 if Halo 6 is another massive flop.

Of course by that point we dont even know if there will still be plans for years of xbone support at all if the decline its in continues after the xbonex launch.

[GennGreymane]

Well to my knowledge no new title to look forward to as of yet.

[Aoyi]

I stopped playing Halo after the franchise was no longer being made by Bungie, so I'm not sure how they are today. I believe both franchises are still releasing new sequels fairly regularly though.

[dope_danny]

Well to my knowledge no new title to look forward to as of yet.

There is a halo 6 coming next year but rumour has it internal conflicts only exacerbated after the separate team that made Halo Wars 2 brought back the original bungie artstyle along with The Flood. Seeing an rts side game get much more positive fan reaction than the mainline shooter really put a panic in them. After the Fable and RARE teams were shut down MS sent a firm message to all its 1st party teams: you are all expendable and Halo 6 has apparently undergone a drastic redesign and the events of Halo 5 were so disliked they may be soft resetting them in the opening if shits to be believed.

[Lodreh]

I'm a big HALO fan. Halo 4 was cool in the split screen co-op and being able to hook up with friends for a max of 4 player co-op was awesome. HALO 5 ditching split screen was a mistake and the story was rather lackluster. I'm hoping HALO 6 goes back to what made HALO great... couch co-op and great story and mechanics.

[Jtbrig7390]

I stopped playing Halo after the franchise was no longer being made by Bungie.

Its still made by most of the Bungie team, They work at 343.

[Aoyi]

Its still made by most of the Bungie team, They work at 343.

Bungie sold off Halo to Microsoft to focus on new games like Destiny. The original devs are mostly with Bungie, though I’m sure some people stayed behind to join 343.

[dope_danny]

Its still made by most of the Bungie team, They work at 343.

Last i saw there were 3 bungie employees that stayed. Frankie, Shishka (Chad Armstrong) and Vic Deleon. The rest were brought on for 4 and most of those have since left and 5 was made by the spartan ops team that took over lead development when they lost virtually all their lead developers after 4 finished.
Everyone else stuck with Bungie for destiny until "the troubles" that lead to a bunch like marty o'donell leaving for multiple devs.