Exactly. There are more solid AAA titles out these days that draw players away. Halo 1, 2, and 3 were unique experiences on the market. Nowadays other FPS games have caught up. And if we expand the scope to include all AAA first-person action games, there are far more great titles around now than there were in 2001-2007. Halo 2 competed with Unreal 2004. Halo 3 competed with Gears of War 1. Halo 4? It competes with your Skyrims, Mass Effects, Assassin's Creeds, Black Ops, Bioshocks, etc.

: Everyone complains that current Halo titles don't have the player population
: dominance of Halo 1 and Halo 2, and venture deeply into gameplay to find a
: reason... whereas I feel the reason is much more straightforward.

: Halo 1 was groundbreaking, without real precedent. Halo 2 was uncontested,
: standing head-and-shoulders above all challengers on Xbox Live.

: Halo 3 and onward were neither, as of course they were sequels and by the
: time they were introduced the competition had caught up to the
: breath-taking changes introduced by Bungie... so there were other titles
: to draw players away.

: The irony is that the steps Bungie (and 343) took to combat this, the
: attempts to innovate anew, were rejected by the grognard populations and
: are the very things they kick against the hardest.

: -- Steve has grown weary over the years from contesting the received wisdom
: that apparently goes unchallenged on GAF, and frankly that more than
: anything else has eroded his enjoyment of MatchMaking in Halo.