343 explains how players have shaped Halo 5 multiplayer

A huge Halo Waypoint blog post by 343 studio head Josh Holmes has described the ground breaking way in which player feedback on the Halo 5: Guardians multiplayer beta has and will shape the future of the game.

“Late last year, we gave you a first look at the future of Halo multiplayer with the release of the Halo 5: Guardians Multiplayer Beta. This was a huge endeavour for everyone on the Halo 5: Guardians team and one that we approached with nervous excitement. After all, this was the earliest that we have ever released a beta for a Halo game, coming almost a year before release,” writes Holmes. “Putting a work-in-progress game out in the wild this early was a leap of faith, and something new for our studio. How would fans react? What results would we find?

“In the past, betas for games on console have typically been used for online scale testing in the weeks prior to a game’s launch. In our case, we provided a true ‘working’ beta that was a snapshot of our game in development. Halo 5: Guardians represents one of the most substantial evolutions of core combat in franchise history. We felt it was crucial to get it in the hands of fans early to ensure we have enough development time to react to key learnings and deliver the best possible game when we release later this year. This represented a shift for us as a team and a studio by sharing the development process with our community and having you help shape the game.”

And the player feedback has been beyond what the studio could ever have imagined, continued Holmes.

“The level of engagement and response from our community shattered all of our expectations. Over the course of the three week beta we saw nearly 20 million games played, accounting for 290 years of collective game time. Throughout the beta we monitored feedback channels including web forums, reddit, Twitter and Facebook. From these sources we tracked literally thousands of pieces of detailed feedback.

“To coincide with the beta, we also launched the Halo Community Feedback Program (HCFP) to directly engage with the most passionate and experienced members of our fan base. Over 19,000 of you have already signed up for the HCFP, with the average amount of Halo played per HCFP participant clocking in at over 900 hours (that’s more than 37 days of Halo playtime per participant!). So far, we have conducted two surveys and we plan to continue expanding this program as we see it as an important tool to help shape our game for launch and beyond.”

All this player feedback has been meticulously analysed by the team at 343 to ensure the game Halo fans get their hands on later this year is the best it can be,

“The team has spent the past few weeks poring over player feedback from the aforementioned sources,” explains Holmes. “From this we have developed an extensive list of improvements for the game.”

So vast is the list of improvements that you’ll need to head to the blog to check them out.

Holmes concludes: “Looking back, this beta has been an amazing gift for us. The feedback we have received from all of you has been invaluable in helping us to improve our game. On behalf of the entire Halo 5: Guardians team, we thank you for your support. We absolutely couldn’t do this without you. I hope you enjoyed your first glimpse into the future of Halo multiplayer and look forward to sharing more with you in the months ahead.”

Halo 5: Guardians is expected to launch for Xbox One this holiday season.

Source: Halo Waypoint