: My point was to gently remind you that good companies RARELY rest on their
: laurels - or think that the game they just released was the best thing
: ever. The good ones always see the flaws in the recent release, and what
: they want, more than anything, is to put something out that fixes those.

: Cody's right, in this case (in my opinion). Halo 4 was a commercial success,
: and the hype for Halo 5 (or whatever it's gonna be called) has not been
: hurt in any substantial way by the gripes that members of this forum (or
: other forums) have expressed. I don't think there's anyone at 343 that is
: saying "we put out the best game ever, and if we just copy that for
: the next one we're golden" - but I think you're mistaken if you think
: that they're trying to up their game just because some people on a forum
: complained that Halo 4 was the worst Halo ever.

: They're trying to up their game because they want to make a better game than
: the last one they made.

: Which was, no matter what people here say, a commercial success.

You're misunderstanding. There's a big difference between seeing room for improvement in your product and being in a bad place largely speaking.

Bungie did not think H2 and H3 were perfect. This is obvious. But they were both tremendous successes, commercially, critically, and among the Halo-savvy (save for that guy who made halo2sucks.com). Halo 2 was a video-game release like the world had never before seen. It dwarfed all competition in sales, owned Xbox Live, and basically drove MLG. Bungie being unhappy with a lack of saved films or rushed ending does not take away from this, and it's a wildly different situation from that which 343 find themselves in with Halo 4.

Halo 2's reception wasn't an excuse to "rest on their laurels," but rather a validation of what they've been doing. Halo 4's reception has given no such validation. It's a game that sold moderately well (for a AAA title) due to (1) the brand strength built by Bungie's games, and (2) a furious marketing campaign fueled by infinite MSbux.

We can assume the bulk of the game sales occurred between NOV and DEC 2012. But without having access to the plot of game sales over time, the production+marketing budget (likely astronomical), and DLC sales numbers, we don't have much to go on regarding the current and future strength of the franchise. Our best indicators are (1) XBL population, and (2) the opinions of the community of people who care. (2) does not include reviewers and journos who picked the game up near launch, played through the campaign, thought "wow such graphics, many emotion" before stamping it 9.5/10 and moving on. It includes competitive players, content creators, and others. The opinion among this set is largely negative, far more than it was after H3 or even Reach. (1) is not looking good at all (relatively -- the makers of John Cena & The Undertaker vs Outer Space Aliens from Outer Space would be thrilled with H4's XBL performance), and if you think you can infer DLC sales (excluding the season pass) by XBL population circa DLC releases, they barely even registered.

Halo 5's success will hinge on how well it differentiates itself from Halo 4. That is the bad spot 343's in.