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Critikal says he believes 343 to be the worst AAA game developer (NOT taking into account controversies), do you agree or feel otherwise?

Last posted Sep 30, 2022 at 08:19PM EDT. Added Sep 09, 2022 at 10:11AM EDT
13 posts from 12 users

So Critikal recently posted a video where he says that in his opinion he feels 343 is one of the worst game development studios out there, and to clarify he says this is only taking into account AAA game studios, and is only talking from a purely game development standpoint and not including controversies like studios with hostile working environments like Blizzard. His reasoning is that 343's handling of Halo, a beloved IP spanning two decades, has been quite poor of late. Infinite in particular, despite be touted as a live service game that they plan on supporting for an entire decade, has barely had any significant updates in the year it's been out, only adding two new maps, pushing seasons and planned updates back by months, and even outright cancelling planned features like split screen co-op despite players showing it's possible to do via glitches and it works fine. He also feels it's a pretty big shame too as the campaign proved to be one of 343's better campaigns (managing to come closer to the quality of Bungie's campaigns), managing to get the spirit of Bungie era Halo while still offering up some new elements, but the multiplayer is what keeps Halo alive for the long run and Infinite is just not delivering on that front.

So yeah this got me curious, does anyone else agree with Critikal on this, or do you feel there's another game development studio that is also significantly lacking? And again this is mainly sticking to the AAA gaming space, and is speaking purely in terms of game development and not in terms of other factors (otherwise yeah this entire thread would be nothing but "Blizzard" for every post).

Fundamentally, the multiplayer is really good. I especially enjoyed Big Team Battles. But the fact that modern business practices have creeped in like battle passes and stuff are a real mood-killer. the fact that the Roblox ripoff does halo multiplayer better than the real one says enough.

Also: WHY CANT YOU CHOOSE GAME MODES FREELY, RANDOM MATCHES SUCK!!!

I personally would say Ubisoft's internal teams are worse. Basically selling the same format with different gimmicks that aren't enough to make them truly distinct and emphasizing microtransaction systems

Activision wins worst AAA publisher though hands down. Not even EA can match their greed

Hard disagree. Not withstanding external controversies, I would easily hand that dis-honor to DICE.

DICE for nearly destroying their golden goose franchise, Battlefield, with the release of 2042. Once the trend setters, they have become the trend chaser and 2042 was reflective of that in all the worse ways imaginable. The giant empty maps, the garish specialists, and omitting established features that go back 2 decades (classes for one). Heck It's evident 2042 was originally designed to be a BR game and only forced into the traditional BF mold at the last stages of development.

2042 also has the least to offer in the franchise. NO single player campaign, smallest weapon pool to select from, lowest amount of maps on offer, etc. This is further compounded by the agonizingly slow drip-feed of post-launch content. This game is a prime example of of all the glaring flaws of the Live Service model.

It was also buggy as a fuck. Oh, don't forget this gem:

Last edited Sep 09, 2022 at 11:06PM EDT

I don't know if I'd even agree since I don't even play much of the current AAA titles. The AAA ones I do play are more or less games that were already a few years old since I've been more into indie stuff and I'm not even into multiplayer. That said, if 343's attempts with Halo have been mediocre and crap, then one could say they are the worst AAA dev that doesn't have sexual harassment controversies and the like but I'm sure those that are into Halo would have a better point on it than I would.

I'm sort of tempted to say it's blizz just because they have a tendency to squander the good they do very hard and I honestly don't think I've seen another company go back and screw up a game that was over a decade old. (WC III: reforged). It takes a special kind of greed and incompetence to do that.

Skeletor-sm

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