Bungie hopes to knock COD4 off top spot

By Tom Bramwell Published 26 February, 2008

"We're not walking away from Halo 3."

Halo 3 hasn't been top of the pops on Major Nelson's Xbox Live activity charts for a little while now, but Bungie plans to fight back.

"We have a lot of awesome new content coming up. We're not walking away from Halo 3," Bungie's community lead Brian Jarrard told Eurogamer last week at GDC.

"We have a group of people at the studio that are just focused on keeping the game going strong for the foreseeable future, so I think we'll continue to evolve and I expect there to be a back-and-forth [between us and COD4] for a while."

Jarrard also said the developer will tweak playlists to help maintain variety and incentivise players to return. And then of course there's the Legendary Map Pack, which is due out this spring.

User-created content could also do with a spring-clean, as Jarrard acknowledged. "The problem we're dealing with now is there's just too much content," he said. "For a new person that just wants to find something fun that somebody else made, we don't feel very good about the way we've done that.

"We are looking at it. That's the great thing about the web - it's totally fluid. We have people now that are working on different ways to potentially grade and aggregate and sort content, and it's definitely something that I think is important for the feature to really get a foothold and contribute to Halo 3's lifespan. It has to be something that's accessible."

As for Call of Duty 4, Jarrard said that it "did a really good job about rewarding the player with perks and these little carrots that are a really powerful incentive to keep playing the game".

"A lot of us are Call of Duty fans. It's great for the ecosystem and for the platform that we have this competition, right? With Halo 2 we were in a unique situation where we had a monopoly for three straight years, and we really haven't seen a decline in the Halo 3 numbers, but Call of Duty's doing really well."

Which doesn't sound much like fighting talk to us, but then, hey, they've already finished the fight.

Look out for more from Bungie later this week.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (51) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • bad09 #1 4 years ago

    H3 is cool but for me it rarely got touched after COD4 came along. BEST FPS MP EVER!

  • gizmo #2 4 years ago

    Probably played Halo3 multiplayer for ooooh, 5-10 minutes.

    It was like a bunny hoping convention fighting bouncing enemies who could absorb an entire clip. Not fun for me personally.

  • TelexStar #3 4 years ago

    I liked Halo 3 and it's still fun but I'm sorry Bungie, CoD4 is just a better multiplayer game. Too many things annoy me with Halo 3 that I rarely bother with it.

  • Lebowski #4 4 years ago

    Good news. Bungie could help by putting more player content / maps / gametypes onto the unranked playlists.

    Two fantastic games though.

  • speedjack #5 4 years ago

    Simple answer :-

    Stop charging for content.

    Your players will flood back.

  • bad09 #6 4 years ago

    @ gizmo

    Ah come on mate you have to admit H3 is some fine MP action, that's up there as one of the best. I had great fun playing online - except for all the angry yanks!

    It's just COD4 is more fun!

  • mattigan #7 4 years ago

    Penalties for jumping would go a long way to bringing back people to H3 MP IMHO. When I say penalties I mean some sort of simulation of what happens when you jump while running in real life i.e you slow down and can't jump again for a few seconds.

  • dsmx #8 4 years ago

    Halo 3 won't beat COD4 simply because COD4 is a better game in every department. Releasing extra maps won't change that.

  • Altrezia #9 4 years ago

    Yeah, cod4 is a better game. Try harder, Bungie.

  • BadBoyBonner #10 4 years ago

    Gizmo

    "It was like a bunny hoping convention fighting bouncing enemies who could absorb an entire clip. Not fun for me personally."

    The hoping I can just about cope with (keep a little more distance) - but the empty an entire clip without them dying drove me bananas.

    CoD 4 - best MP FPS on a console ever - as for the numbers online my CoD4 seemed to report 82226 players online on a semi permanent basis rising to 92224 then back down to 82226 - that would have to be one hell of a coordinated effort for that to be true!

    Glad H3 isn't top dog - proves I have impeccable taste!

    Cod 4 4 teh winz lol
    Edited by 1 at 26/02/08 @ 15:12

  • Lebowski #11 4 years ago

    Big IMHO, but halo 3 is a better team-based game with the right people. Everyone's too busy (read: 'having too much fun') with perks, levelling-up and doing their own thing in CoD4, like Mike Read's just shouted "Runaround!" to them.

  • syphaa #12 4 years ago

    I still dabble with H3 every now and then, mainly when buddies are online and fancy a quick sesh. Otherwise its COD4 FTW! Im really looking forward to the COD4 update. With the grenade kill cams and the other updates. Will deffo keep COD4 nice and fresh. Im only just on my 3rd Prestige...long way to go :)

    H3 is fading...and when GTA4 comes out...well...I think we will have to wait until Halo 4! The MP in GTA could be lots of fun, if so this will drain users from H3. Be an interesting few months.

  • LiamK #13 4 years ago

    Although one thing I do like about Halo is that to get to the higher ranks you actually need skill to win, whereas with COD you will eventually be promoted, even if you play terribly. It'll just take longer. It means that the ranks in COD are often less a matter of skill and more a matter of how long someone has been playing.

    (Granted, that's true to some extent in Halo 3 as well, but the skill+experience=rank system does aleviate that somewhat.)

  • miiiguel #14 4 years ago

    BadBoyBonner, every time I play H3 online it reports > 200K players.

  • Bealsy #15 4 years ago

    I prefer Viva Pinata Party Animals...

    .... anyone?

  • Xerx3s #16 4 years ago

    Hmm, the problem for me is that I prefer Halo 3 to COD4 (personally it isn't that good imo, especially the sp is a bit meh) but it seems that all my xbl/reallife mates are playing COD4 and since I'm a social player....

  • MilkYMoO #17 4 years ago

    Right now I prefer halo 3 multiplayer, next week it could be call of duty 4, the following week halo 3 again. I have them both and know both are fabulous fun, so I can't complain.

  • richardiox #18 4 years ago

    COD4 is so much better online multi than H3 but for some reason, despite this being their 3rd COD, Infinity Ward can't seem to deliver a much needed patch even though the game has been out for virtually 4 months. That's a joke espeically as we were "promised" it in December.

  • Thalanos #19 4 years ago

    Both games have their own place. Sure they're both FPSs but they're both completely different MP experiences, each with their own (grade A) ideas and implementations.

    I'm happy to move between the two as the mood takes me.

  • Darren #20 4 years ago

    Let the battle of the sub-720p shooters commence!!!

  • mcmonkeyplc #21 4 years ago

    Bungie fanboy comment:

    CoD4 has the shittest party system ever! It has one which is good, but its fucked. Fix it.

    As for Bungie...stop fucking around with the game and people might come back to it.

  • miiiguel #22 4 years ago

    frod, your idea of happiness is so... simplistic.
    Edited by 1 at 26/02/08 @ 16:08

  • gman7714 #23 4 years ago

    COD4 mp (and the SP) is better than Halo but I have to say I've had more laughs playing H3 mp.

    I lurved team doubles in H3 aswell, but all me mates are to busy playing COD4 now :(

    slightly OT - had a quick game of RB6V mp lastnight and thats still awesome bar the annoying twats over the voice comms especially the prick who just kept saying "ni@@er" intermittently for no apparent reason :(

  • Skooch #24 4 years ago

    I find H3 has much more variety in gametypes and maps than COD4. It also has vehicles which is a big plus point. COD4 just isn't as polished in terms of the information provided to the player and I still love the medal system with H3. As for the theatre and replays and saving film clips H3 just blows COD4 apart. Actually, the more I think about it the more I prefer Halo. I don't think COD4 will have the crown for long.

  • rhinoxious #25 4 years ago

    That's the problem with user generated content, it eventually swamps you with choice, and most of it is shit.

    What you need is either a team of people to sift through it for the good stuff, or create a selected group of players to rate the content (find people who care, any attempt at democracy for a game this big will fail horribly)

  • miiiguel #26 4 years ago

    Legendery co-op in H3 is great fun. CoD should have co-op.

    H3 also have a "fan community" which CoD lacks, most of it spawns as a "backfire" from haters, but still.
    Edited by 1 at 26/02/08 @ 16:28

  • Pirotic #27 4 years ago

    back and forth beween Halo3 and COD4?

    If anything I'd say more people will get bored of Halo3 and eventually move to COD4 to play with friends. It's simply a better game, looks nicer, runs smoother, gameplays tighter and more incentives to keep playing. Have not put my Halo3 DVD back in the drive once since buying it.

  • hoos30 #28 4 years ago

    I don't know why you guys are complaining, this is a dream scenario for console FPS gamers. Two well funded, highly creative dev teams are competing tooth and nail for YOUR attention. Nothing but pride on the line and all they want to do is make us happy. This is the golden age.

  • Pasco #29 4 years ago

    Call of Duty 4 is not as bad as Counter-Strike but I hate first person shooters that reward people who are hiding, wait for someone to run through the door, shoot him once and he dies. Since there are no weapons, items and vehicles lying around, CoD doesn't give you an incentive to risk going out to an open or otherwise risky space. Having the extra weapons, items, vehicles, dual wielding gives Halo an extra layer of depth and demands from the player to make decisions at a constant rate as opposed to mostly aim and shoot because you have to work with the one weapon you are spawned with. It makes the game more dynamic.

    People who can't make a kill in Halo with a clip of the standard weapon are doing something wrong. People complaining about jumping in videogames is also wrong. If you can't jump, it's not a videogame. Jumping equals happiness. You should also be happy when other people in Halo jump because it makes them easier targets. You know where they are going to be for the next couple of seconds.

  • WrongShui #30 4 years ago

    CoD4 is fun but you can't rewatch your MP game in slow mo were you splasered three men in a warthog.

  • agparrot #31 4 years ago

    I have to say, the infrastructure of H3 - The online campaign, lobbies, game choices, Party cohesion, wealth of game types and the awesome Theater is a real + for the Bungie offering.

    However, the importance of lag in combat versus Americans - where they can be alerted to the fact that you are shooting them in the back, turn around and shoot / melee you to death even though on your screen they appear to have soaked up two clips of ammo, is just too annoying.

    As I only have one life, I don't have the time to dedicate to two shooters, and I'm afraid CoD4 is, as other people in this thread have pointed out, where most of the bods on my friends list are, so that is also where I am... to the extent that H3 was receiving so little love I traded it in.

    Should all the content become free in future, I might pick it up again, of course.

  • JayPee #32 4 years ago

    Hmm, half that article seemed to spookily remind me of an Edge article I read not so long ago.

  • Xerx3s #33 4 years ago

    That's another sour problem with COD4. Had no problems with H3 matches but COD4 seems to be running rampant with network problems. The moment the yanks come online in the evening it starts. It keeps on dropping us back to the lobby, dropping games , giving us lag tastic games (which we still win :D), etc. For a game that solely relies on MP it is strange to stumble on so many problems while it doesn't even offer basic things such as vehicles & coop.

  • redneon Verified Programmer, SUMO Digital #34 4 years ago

    I don't think it's very fair to compare the two, really. They're vastly different in how they play. CoD has gone the simulation route whereas Halo has headed in the other direction. Fans of either route will obviously prefer their respective game.

    Personally, I love both games but I prefer Halo and play it a fair bit at home whereas I play CoD at work. The primary reason I prefer Halo though is that it doesn't require me to crawl around at a snail's pace and/or camp my arse off to get any kills. I think Halo 3 is a much more skillful game whereas CoD is much more tactical.

  • CreepinJesus #35 4 years ago

    "We're not walking away from Halo 3"

    You may not be, but many people did ages ago.

  • prolific8 #36 4 years ago

    Bulls**t is CoD 4 MP better. Halo is fast, frenetic and skill-based. To win at CoD 4 you just need to know the best camping spots, not to mention how frustrating new players must find it when they're being destroyed simply because they don't have the best perks/weapons yet. Throw in replays, user-generated content and the vastly superior ranking and medal systems, and I can't see why there's even any debate.

    Single player is a no-brainer though, CoD all the way.
    Edited by 1 at 26/02/08 @ 19:47

  • smelly #37 4 years ago

    Hmm.. Problem with this is :

    COD4 = Fucking ace
    Halo 3 = Fucking shit

  • Yossarian #38 4 years ago

    One is a more skillful game, with greater depth and intricacy and a much steeper learning curve, both in terms of the mechanics, and in terms of the competition available at the upper echelons. This is what draws a consistent hardcore crowd.

    One of these games will still be played in 2010, and it won't be CoD4.

  • smelly #39 4 years ago

    (excuse me while i just splutter my coffee all over my keyboard in laughter)

  • Yossarian #40 4 years ago

    Okay, as long as you realise that amounts to the admission you're bad at Halo.

  • smelly #41 4 years ago

    Erm.. part of the reason i hated halo 3 was that it was too short and easy.

    So that's no such admission.

    COD4 is by FAR a superior game (both single player - most important imo.. and multiplayer - a nice addition)

  • Max_Powers #42 4 years ago

    I find CoD4 to be the better game, even though I was a massive Halo 2 fanboy.

    What soured me on Halo 3 was the fact that the first map pack cost around EU 10. Even though the initial map offering was very limited compared to CoD 4 offering so I figured it should have been free.

    What happened was that half my friends bought the map pack, the other half refused, and we stopped playing altogether to migrate to CoD4 because of mismatch.

  • TitusCrow #43 4 years ago

    every fps with a duck button has teabaging you chump!

    cod4 pwns halo so bad its not really a serious competition, i got them both havent played halo3 since before xmas now still play cod4 3-4 days a week. ( this with a wow adiction to suport isnt bad going! )

  • ange| #44 4 years ago

    I'd play Halo 3 a lot more if the rumble pit / lone wolf modes didnt force everyone into playing bloody oddball and king of the hill. It's like bungie are forcing me into their shit game modes.

  • BadDevotions #45 4 years ago

    it's good to see the boys at bungie aren't as one sided as some of the plums here and actually find it possible to enjoy both games on each of thier merrits. I totally enjoyed Halo 3 as well as COD4 - and now for some bizzare reason, all my friends and I are back enjoying gears multiplayer - which in alot of ways I enjoy more than both COD4 and Halo3 at the moment.

  • Ares #46 4 years ago

    smelly, it's quite apparent that you are not a competent Halo 3 player.

  • Fab4 #47 4 years ago

    I wish H3 would become more popular...it might help remove some of the dregs that are currently running around in CoD4.
    Edited by 1 at 27/02/08 @ 11:55

  • Yossarian #48 4 years ago

    The dregs will always wash into the easier game.

  • miiiguel #49 4 years ago

    " Erm.. part of the reason i hated halo 3 was that it was too short and easy. "

    That's bullshit, if you find it easy put in on Legendary and turn all skull on, is that easy now ?

  • smelly #50 4 years ago

    Why would i want to do that now i've completed it?

    Just face it COD4 is a better game.

  • Yossarian #51 4 years ago

    Troll: ignore.