Forgive me for being a few days late to the “Halo 3 isn’t going to have online co-op” party, but I have this annoying thing called a day job. You know, the thing that pays the bills, keeps my wife and son fed and ensures I don’t sit in front of the TV all day. Fortunately my tardiness is just fashionable, and it gave Bungie a chance to respond to the Internet exploding. Now it’s time to respond back.
Presuming you have a day job too, here’s the Cliff’s Notes recap: Somebody leaked info from the next issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly. This info says online co-op isn’t a sure thing for Halo 3. Bungie, according to the article, hopes that aspect will make the final feature-set. People freaked. Some peed. Bungie replied, hoping to calm the mass hysteria. They said: “As we approach the tail end of development, we will have a clearer picture of whether or not that online feature will be included. Assuming either way would be foolish at this time. We will say more when we feel it’s prudent. Because that’s how we roll.”
Um, OK. Let me tell you how we roll. And by “we,” I mean consumers of your oh-so-precious creation. We have day jobs. We have families. We have responsibilities outside of pwning n00bs via force-fed matchmaking. And we have certain expectations of franchises that are billed as “system sellers.” One of those expectations is (gasp) gameplay evolution. You obviously didn’t get that memo.
Halo 2 failed to include online co-op, in spite of the fact that Xbox Live was not only well-established at that point, but thriving. Perhaps you missed consumers’ cries of discontent about this omission. Why else would you not have made online co-op your first priority for Halo 3, or at least a few steps above “implement HDR lighting on shiny, exploding barrels”? We don’t care that “the biggest problem for us for online co-op is that we have a situation where you can be in a Warthog with five troops, almost a mile away from the other player. That’s a significant challenge. And there’s lots of design things you could do to prevent that from happening, but they would make it not feel like Halo anymore” [source]. You know what would feel like Halo? Blowing up Covenant with a bud. Approaching a gully with friends and frantically planning our attack. Taking down a Brute by using one Spartan as a decoy and two others as snipers.
You know what wouldn’t feel like Halo? Playing the game alone, in the dark, and having to share recorded videos with a friend rather than fond memories. Remember that bit about we consumers having day jobs and families? Well so do you. And part of your day job is to figure out a way to make online co-op work. Somewhere, deep in the recesses of your multiplayer-obsessed brains, lies the potential to find a suitable solution. Halo 1 warped people. That was weird at first, but we got used to it. Halo 2 had no Xbox Live co-op, but we waited patiently for the patch. It never came. Halo 3, apparently, could suffer the same fate, even though you’ve had more money thrown at your pizza-party-having development studio than most of us will see in a lifetime.
And you want us to feel sorry for you? Because, in your words, that’s how you roll? Let me clue you in to a little aspect of something we like to call “real life.” In our day jobs, the ones that preclude us from waiting with bated breath for your online updates and “strategic information releases,” if we happen to tell the boss “sorry, I didn’t get to that years-in-the-making assignment because it’s just not how I roll,” the only thing “rolling” would be our butts out the door with a pink slip. And the funny thing is, at the end of the day, we are your bosses, Bungie. We don’t pay your bills, but our feedback is your performance evaluation. Our pocketbook is your bonus plan. Our enthusiasm is your job security. By not listening to our demands for online co-op in Halo 3, you’ll be flipping your finger at the very people responsible for your success.
Yes, you’re the developers. Yes, it’s your product. And yes, you’re the artists responsible for this upcoming game. But even art has to evolve. Cave paintings became DaVinci, Mondrian became Warhol, game experiences become…who knows? And we really don’t know in your case, because by all accounts you’ve done little to actually evolve the Halo franchise other than spit-shine the graphics and officially implement online code that Kai-X could accomplish “underground” on the original Xbox.
I fully understand that you have a lot on your plate. I fully understand that you can do your job far better than I can. But you, in turn, must fully understand that online co-op was the only feature missing from Halo 2 that we wanted to see in Halo 3. Well, and an actual ending. Recorded videos? Optional. Shiny, HDR-lit barrels? Optional. New vehicles and weapons? Optional. Give us online co-op, Bungie. Prove to us that you’re not so wrapped-up in your own perceived greatness that you actually listen to your consumers. After all, we’re as much of your boss as Mr. Gates, and it’s a never a good career move to piss of the Big Cheese. Either one.
— Jonas Allen
