When Halo: The Master Chief Collection was released, everyone who is a diehard fan jumped on board. I purchased the game the moment it came out and I have enjoyed it immensely. The online portions of the game however leave a lot to be desired.
The game has been hampered with matchmaking issues for fans, and seeing as this was one of the celebrated reasons to play Halo back in the day, it is a shame that this seems to be the reason fans are turning away. The problems are still there two weeks later, which has resulted in developer 343 Industries formally issuing an apology for the game’s performance.
Studio head Bonnie Ross has issued an open letter for fans. Bonnie said “On the matchmaking front, we have encountered unexpected issues that were not apparent in our internal test environment and that have resulted in a frustrating experience, including long matchmaking times and low session success rates. Within 343 Industries and Xbox, I can assure you that resolving these issues is our #1 priority. We continue to partner with the Xbox platform team to analyse all data to make ongoing server-side adjustments to continually improve the matchmaking experience. We are also preparing additional content updates that will address existing campaign, UI, and other issues to improve the overall experience. With each update, we will carefully analyse data to confirm that the improvements we’re seeing internally are also happening with fans at home.”
Ross continued to say “343 is currently working on multiple server-side tweaks and game content updates over the coming weeks.” Ross has openly said that it isn’t good enough for the loyal Halo fans and that they will continue to work on it till they get it right.
I don’t know about you, but there seems to be a lot of games recently that are launching poorly. Look at the list of games that needed updating either on or shortly after release:
- Halo: The Master Chief Collection
- DriveClub
- Dragon Age: Inquisition
- Destiny
- Grand Theft Auto 5
- Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
- Assassin’s Creed Unit
- Far Cry 4
These are huge titles that really haven’t been tested long enough. It appears that developers are now trying to get the game out first before knowing if it is actually ready. The biggest disappointment for me on that list was GTAV. The online updates needed just to get that game playable was a laugh.
What do you think developers need to do before releasing? Is BETA and ALPHA testing worth it? Let us know in the comments below.
