Despite having the biggest launch in the history of the Halo franchise, according to 343 Industries, Halo Infinite has a big problem. The seasonal content structure of games like Fortnite and Halo Infinite is a double-edged sword. Though it gives players tons of stuff to do while they play, it’s all but guaranteed they won’t play for long. And with this game. that’s exactly what’s happening. Halo Infinite has been losing a significant number of players for some time, and has lost nearly 90% of all-time players on PC.
Using SteamDB, we can see the trend on PC. On launch, Halo Infinite peaked at over 270,000 players. The current high-count on Steam is that the game had around 275,000 players at its launch peak. And according to Microsoft, a combined 20 million have at least played the game. The average player count on Steam is about 30,000, which accounts for just above 10% of the playerbase compared to launch.
This is a pretty common issue with games that use the seasonal content structure. With any genre, this always happens, not just shooters. Players get bored fairly quickly, and once they’ve reached the point where they feel their investment has been paid back, they stop playing. Invested players wait until the next season of content to play again. More casual players might not ever come back though, and that’s a problem. The fact is, some of those players won’t come back ever. If the game can’t surpass those high-water marks in the coming months, that’s a sign of a major issue. 343 better be ready to put some new content in the game that significantly alters the game, or adds a bunch of new maps.
Some players are also not as enchanted with the new design direction that Halo has taken. The open world structure of the singleplayer just isn’t as engaging for some players. So these players may have fled back to the Master Chief Collection. And if that’s the future for the game that Microsoft and 343 see, they may not put the time into fixing its issues.
The game has tried its best to retain players, but it’s having trouble. The amount of maps and game modes needs to improve. Season One is expected to start in May, and with that will come some new content.
