E3 2015 is nearing closer and that means more information for 343 Industries’ Halo 5: Guardians. Studio head Josh Holmes spoke about various details regarding the playlists that would be included.
Speaking on the TeamBeyond forums, Holmes said that, “Without talking specifics, the general approach is to support CSR throughout the Arena experience (players can choose whether or not they care about CSR as a goal) and to deliver a focused set of Matchmaking playlists at launch. There will be a combination of new and returning game types at launch but don’t expect every esoteric game type to be there.
“The focused approach means that we are building a core set of game types and polishing them to be great. We also have the most substantial post-launch support plans of any Halo title, which I will be talking about in more detail at E3 and beyond. We will continue to evolve the experience post-launch, delivering new content and experiences. I’m very passionate about supporting the game and using input from the community to help guide changes that we make. I see the HCFP being an important input into this process.”
For now, it’s a real challenge deciding which playlists to add that players will love. However, Holmes did say that the goal is to deliver a core set of experiences that will be fun to play as opposed to too many different game types. “This is one of the biggest challenges as a developer, really. Every player is going to have a different set of experiences they love and care about from past Halos.
“In aggregate, that list is unmanageably large. Not just from the perspective of building them all for each game (since everything needs to be rebuilt, retuned and rebalanced for a new engine), but simply the overload of information (too many choices) and population density (not enough players in the smaller playlists to support quality play).
“That’s why you see rotation of content in matchmaking and why we are focusing on a polished core set of game types for Halo 5. I would rather deliver a core set of experiences at launch that are truly awesome than a vast grab bag of experiences that feel half baked. They key of course is to make sure that we have the right core set. We’ll be sharing more details about this closer to launch.”
Halo 5: Guardians is out on October 27th for Xbox One and Microsoft’s E3 conference will be taking place on June 15th. Stay tuned for more details.