: 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.

"Success" means many different things to many different people.

Do you judge Halo 4's success by the number of copies its sold?
Or do you Judge Halo 4's success buy the number of active players it maintains?

Are you one of the bean counters?
Or are you one of the players?

It's all a matter of perspective.

If success is based simply on sales- that is not good. Sales are only indicative that someone liked it enough to BUY it, not that they are still PLAYING it. If someone loses interest in the franchise and stops playing the game, well... whos to say they'll be back for the sequel? DLC, however, would be a great way to gauge if people are still enjoying the product enough to buy add-ons for it. Early Season passes kinda skew that logic though... (Someone who bought the legendary edition but doesn't play anymore)
:/

Halo Wars was the best selling console based RTS for the xbox 360. Cool. Tell that to me and the other 4,999 players looking for more opponents. Shit, don't even think about the number of people in that population who have the DLC :P