"I haven't touched Halo 5 and Destiny is to blame" (Destiny)

by Cody Miller , Music of the Spheres - Never Forgot, Friday, October 30, 2015, 13:07 (3548 days ago) @ narcogen

“If I would have done anything to Halo 1, it would have been to do something to draw people back into those experiences that they enjoyed the first time. Even in the smallest ways, just to give them an excuse to get together and do it again.”
- Jason Jones, July 9 2013 via IGN

This is what has always baffled me. People did do that. Do you know how long even average Joes played Halo? I know so many people, who are complete casual gamers, who fire up and play through Halo again every once and a while. Chris101b and I just did it for all 6 games.

I don't think Jones means "every once in awhile".

I also don't think a lot of people did that. At most, one replay a year, with perhaps an extra one just before the next sequel dropped.

Someone who plays Destiny on a regular basis, if they are doing the Daily Heroic on most days, has probably replayed Destiny's entire campaign close to 10 times now in a single year, and that's not even including strikes, raids, PVP, Prison and Court of Oryx.

I'd love to get a big stats dump from Bungie comparing how people play Destiny compared to how they played Halo, but I'm not holding my breath for it. It seems likely to me that all the old Halo data belongs to 343 now, and the two studios now are essentially competitors. I don't think either will want to open up a war on that front.

The question though is WHY Jason Jones would care how often people come back to Halo. Why would he care if someone replays Halo every week or every year? Why would he care if someone plays it once, or they play it obsessively like Rockslider? What does any of that have to do with the quality of the game, which is universally regarded not just as a success, but a milestone in the industry that's spawned imitators and had huge influence?

So I ask, why would he find it important that people revisit and replay the game on HIS terms rather than THEIRS? I really think the answer is insecurity.