Having Halo: MCC release on PC was the biggest jump in playerbase the Halo franchise has seen in years. The level of exposure and integration into gaming culture has skyrocketed since MCC's release on PC. A huge reason for this is that the game also released on Steam. Steam is an application that is owned by a large majority of PC gamers. This means that even in the edge case that someone who has never heard of Halo, but could be interested in playing the game, sees an advertisement or store page for Halo on Steam, they are more inclined to buy it. On Steam, you have a community of reviewers who will tell you honestly what they think about the game being reviewed, with no filters. This means that often times on Steam, reviews are trusted more than reviews on other platforms where reviewing is less popular, or even non-existent, such as the Windows Store or the Epic Games Launcher.
What Steam also has that most other platforms neglect, is active community support. You see when your friends are online, yes, but you also see on the page of the game who has been playing recently and for how much, what there achievements are, screenshots they took, and other activity associated with the game. This helps players find other players with similar playstyles to play with. Your friend has a ton of playtime, lots of screenshots, and low multiplayer ranking? Ask them if you can join them in customs next time they are on. Average multiplayer ranking with lots of achievements and playtime? Go achievement and easter egg hunting in campaign. The list goes on. Steam has support that allows the community to bond with each other and play games together, strengthening the playerbase, and adding more sales as the game stands the test of time. Another thing to note: Steam also has groups that players can create to supplement this as well.
"But Cassandra, Steam takes a cut of each sale! Game developers need their pay too! If Halo Infinite is released on the Microsoft store as an exclusive, then 343i will be able to take a higher cut!"
This argument is valid if you ignore all of the context of PC gaming at the current moment. With the rise of the Epic Games Store as well as other first party launchers, there has been continued tension between players, and often times many people dedicate themselves mainly to one platform. Players do not like "bloatware" on their computer just for a single game, and will often absolutely refuse to buy a game on any other platform besides the one they are dedicated to. The Microsoft store is deathly thin when it comes to features that connect players together, even influencing players who own the Microsoft Store version of MCC (via game pass or other means) to buy a Steam copy of the game as well just for the community features! This is incredibly noteworthy, and I personally know at least five people in my local community who have done this, and it is no secret that the Steam version of MCC is the best version. The result of this is that Steam increases sales of a game to make up for the cut taken from developers. There are benefits that comes from said cut being taken from developers as previously noted in this post (community features, achievements, marketing, trading cards, etc). And even if then if the cut is too high, then set an MSRP the Steam is priced at, and then sell the game on the Microsoft store at a "discounted price", ie, make the Steam version more expensive, players such as myself will be more then willing to pay the markup just for the features Steam offers.
Halo as a franchise already has a foot in Steam. Many Halo titles already exist on Steam such as Spartan Assault, Spartan Strike, Halo Wars, CE, 2, 3, and 4 with 343i even saying it might be possible for 5 to release on Steam with enough demand. Halo needs this release on Steam to happen for the community-- no, the franchise to stay alive. Halo is something I have held dear to my heart since the first release in 2001, and it would mean the world to me and many others if we continued this legacy on Steam. Make Halo stand the test of time, and we need to do this by making Halo as accessible as possible. Let's make this time, right now, be the time we see Halo Infinite, and all future Halo releases, on Steam!
What Steam also has that most other platforms neglect, is active community support. You see when your friends are online, yes, but you also see on the page of the game who has been playing recently and for how much, what there achievements are, screenshots they took, and other activity associated with the game. This helps players find other players with similar playstyles to play with. Your friend has a ton of playtime, lots of screenshots, and low multiplayer ranking? Ask them if you can join them in customs next time they are on. Average multiplayer ranking with lots of achievements and playtime? Go achievement and easter egg hunting in campaign. The list goes on. Steam has support that allows the community to bond with each other and play games together, strengthening the playerbase, and adding more sales as the game stands the test of time. Another thing to note: Steam also has groups that players can create to supplement this as well.
"But Cassandra, Steam takes a cut of each sale! Game developers need their pay too! If Halo Infinite is released on the Microsoft store as an exclusive, then 343i will be able to take a higher cut!"
This argument is valid if you ignore all of the context of PC gaming at the current moment. With the rise of the Epic Games Store as well as other first party launchers, there has been continued tension between players, and often times many people dedicate themselves mainly to one platform. Players do not like "bloatware" on their computer just for a single game, and will often absolutely refuse to buy a game on any other platform besides the one they are dedicated to. The Microsoft store is deathly thin when it comes to features that connect players together, even influencing players who own the Microsoft Store version of MCC (via game pass or other means) to buy a Steam copy of the game as well just for the community features! This is incredibly noteworthy, and I personally know at least five people in my local community who have done this, and it is no secret that the Steam version of MCC is the best version. The result of this is that Steam increases sales of a game to make up for the cut taken from developers. There are benefits that comes from said cut being taken from developers as previously noted in this post (community features, achievements, marketing, trading cards, etc). And even if then if the cut is too high, then set an MSRP the Steam is priced at, and then sell the game on the Microsoft store at a "discounted price", ie, make the Steam version more expensive, players such as myself will be more then willing to pay the markup just for the features Steam offers.
Halo as a franchise already has a foot in Steam. Many Halo titles already exist on Steam such as Spartan Assault, Spartan Strike, Halo Wars, CE, 2, 3, and 4 with 343i even saying it might be possible for 5 to release on Steam with enough demand. Halo needs this release on Steam to happen for the community-- no, the franchise to stay alive. Halo is something I have held dear to my heart since the first release in 2001, and it would mean the world to me and many others if we continued this legacy on Steam. Make Halo stand the test of time, and we need to do this by making Halo as accessible as possible. Let's make this time, right now, be the time we see Halo Infinite, and all future Halo releases, on Steam!
