Sales-wise, Halo hit its peak with Halo 3. It sold the most copies and had the busiest matchmaking hoppers. This is strange because it was released less than two years into the Xbox 360's lifecycle, while Reach and Halo 4 were released at a time when there were tens of millions of more homes with 360s (therefore more potential Halo buyers).

One way to look at the Halo series is to see Halo 4's popularity as a dramatic shift from what came before. Another (more accurate) way to look at it is to see it as a continuation of Reach's fall from the Halo 3 high-point.

We -- the crazy fans who post on an internet message board about the game -- can nitpick about the changes in the gameplay. We can complain about how Halo 4 is different from Halo 3, but for the vast majority of players who once played Halo 4 and are now gone, the biggest noticeable differences aren't between Halo games; they're between Halo games and other shooters.

So what has changed since 2007? Simply put, there is far more competition on the market. Call of Duty has taken off in popularity. New shooters like Titanfall are imitating CoD's fast-paced, twitch-shooter gameplay. And there is a stunning array of AAA first-person action/adventure titles and western RPGs on the market that simply weren't around when Halo 3 launched. When Halo 1, 2, and 3 were released, there was no Bioshock. There was no Assassin's Creed. There was no Borderlands. There was no Mass Effect, Dragon Age, or Skyrim. Far Cry 3? GTA 5? There was the occasional AAA title on the 360 to compete for our time, but nothing like the avalanche of quality we get today.

Why did everyone play Halo CE, Halo 2, and Halo 3? To be blunt, it was because there was nothing else to play!

Given where Bungie took Halo in Reach, Halo 4 is a natural progression (for the better, IMO). The fact that Halo 4 is less popular than its predecessors is a sign of the times, not the quality of the game.