: Black Ops 2 has been the most or second-most popular game on XBL since its
: release. Minecraft is still up there. EA Sports FIFA 13 has shown more
: staying power than Halo 4.

: It's true that Reach did not fare as well as Halo 3, and Halo 4 did not fare
: as well as Reach. But we need to drop the excuse that it's just not
: possible to dominate the market the way H3 did and the way BLOPS2
: currently is .

That's exactly the point. It's one thing to say that Halo 3 was great and Halo 4 sucks, and that's why Halo 4 isn't as popular.

I think the truth is closer to this: Halo 3 and Halo 4 were both great, but Halo 3 was more successful because there was no alternative. Or, to put a more cynical spin on it, Halo 3 and Halo 4 both sucked, and Halo 3's success was despite that suckiness. It only succeeded because it didn't have the competition.

The real hunger in the market is for fast-paced twitch shooters with loadouts and classes, complex weapon builds, and one-shot kills. Halo isn't and never has been that game. Once that game was on the market in the form of CoD, though, all the gamers who made do with Halo jumped ship. Now all that's left are the fans who actually prefer arena-style shooters to twitch shooters.

There's a reason why game developers have moved away from Halo's slow gameplay and arena setup.