: 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.

I think it's a little from Column A, a little from Column B. Styles of gameplay go out of... well, style, and I don't think there's much you can do about it. I do think 343i deserves kudos for trying different things... it's just that I think at some point, those "different things" undermined some of why I like playing Halo, and those haven't apparently succeeded in bringing Halo to a new or larger audience.*

*In the long term. If numbers we have are any indication, Halo 4 is the fastest-selling Halo ever, but that doesn't seem to have translated into long-term multiplayer populations.