343 Apologizes as Halo: MCC Continues to Be Troubled

[roseofbattle]

343 Apologizes as Halo: MCC Continues to Be Troubled

This is the first time on the Xbox Wire 343 Industries has apologized and addressed Halo: Master Chief Collection troubles.

343 Industries [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/halo%20master%20chief%20collection] studio head Bonnie Ross has issued an apology on the Xbox Wire for the first time.

Ross acknowledged fans' frustration and admitted the company had "not delivered the experience you deserve."

Halo: Master Chief Collection launched on Nov. 11. Since then, players have experienced bugs in the user interface and matchmaking [http://www.gamespot.com/articles/halo-master-chief-collection-update-inadvertently-/1100-6423786/], and patches have not done much to fix the situation.

"I personally apologize for this on behalf of us all at 343 Industries," Ross said. "Our team is committed to working around the clock until these issues are resolved."

Ross explained 343 Industries has encountered issues in matchmaking that were not apparent in an internal test environment. Matchmaking times are long, and session success rates are low. Fixing the matchmaking issues is 343 Industries' first priority. It is also working with the Xbox platform team to make server-side adjustments, and it will release updates to address issues in the campaign and user interface.

"Know that we're trying to be as nimble as possible to put fixes in place," Ross said. "We are planning multiple server-side tweaks and game content updates over the coming weeks. Looking forward, I want to give you a high-level cadence of the latest updates we're currently working on. Development and testing of our latest conent update continues and we are on track for release later this week."

Ross noted 343 Industries will "make this right" with fans once fixes are in place.

She closed the letter to fans with the following: "Please accept my heartfelt apologies for the delay and for the negative aspects of your experience to date. We're doing everything in our power to resolve it as quickly as possible."

Source: Joystiq [http://news.xbox.com/2014/11/games-a-status-update-from-bonnie-ross-on-halo-the-master-chief-collection]


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[Ambitiousmould]

"Heartfelt apologies" my arse. I seem to remember Halo 4 having matchmaking issues at launch too. Say sorry all you want, but as long as it keeps happening people will know how bloody insincere it is, no matter how much you "want to make it right". That goes for you, too, EA.

In fact, here's an idea, try making the bleeder right before launch.

 

[Tortilla the Hun]

While it would have been nice for these problems to have been found before it hit store shelves, it's refreshing to hear the studio, their head nonetheless, apologize and admit their mistake rather than make a statement saying how it's all part of the process of innovation or something along those lines.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

How do we know it's 343 that's to blame here and not Microsoft? Maybe they forced them to release the game before it was actually finished.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

343: *Rings bungie* Bunngie? Now, dont be mad...but we done gone fucked up the MCC release and we dont know how to fix it.

Bungie: What? You had one job, 343. ONE JOB! How bad is it?

343: Err well you see, umm people arent happy...

Bungie: *Heavy sigh* If you want a job done properly...
Fiiine! This is the last time. After this, youre on your own.
*Puts phone down*
****ing amatuers!!

 

[Talaris]

As nice as it is to hear a proper apology from the head no less of 343, surely this now allows for a class action law suit against them, as it can be used as definitive evidence that the product was not what was promised. After all, the Aliens: Colonial Marines lawsuit was settled by Sega for 1.25 million dollars, and lawyers can probably cite it as a reason why Microsoft should also pay out.

This year seems to be one of the worst for game launches that I can remember.

 

[Something Amyss]

You know what'd be better than "heartfelt apologies?"

Fixing the game.

I mean, five years from now they could still be sorry.

 

[MatParker116]

First DLC pack free then I guess.

 

[Gali]

Should've happen sooner. I think 343 and MS had an awesome idea with the MCC. It's gaming history for me. Not as a Halo fan, but as someone who loves the medium. Putting so many games together, which means a shit ton of different engines and netcodes etc. to work with, and enabling multiplayer for them is a very hard task. The MCC is a very unique thing as a concept. Especially with the ability to switch between old and new graphics. I hope someone does the same with other franchises.

But they totally failed at proper testing/QA. The release date was far too soon set. Hopefully, MS and other publishers take a lesson from this.

Captcha: men in suits
Indeed...

 

[Zetatrain]

Huh well that's a a shame. I heard there were problems but I didn't realize they were that bad. Good thing I got the MCC primarily for the single player campaigns, been having a blast with my brother on split screen co-op. Hopefully they fix the matchmaking by the time i feel like playing multiplayer.

 

[J Tyran]

Its pretty disappointing and unacceptable for the fans, I bought the Xbone MCC bundle out of nostalgia for Halo 2 Anniversary and all the Master Cheif games on one machine (and Halo 5 just around the corner) and just for the campaign not the multiplayer but this sucks for large chunk (maybe even the majority) of the people that wanted to play the nostalgic Halo 2 multiplayer and classic maps.

Must be bitterly disappointing for them, I can see the people that went and bought the console for this game being pretty pissed about this. 343i should have gotten this right first time, the MCC is/was supposed to have been a system seller yet they fucked up one of the majorly important pieces of content.

At this point apologies are pointless and worthless, sure at least they are acknowledging the problems but this isnt just a few bugs and its ruining the whole experience for a lot of people. This quarter is one of the worst ever for shoddy releases, this year really if you think back to all the buggy and broken games (entire consoles too with all the terrible system updates).

I hope someone does the same with other franchises.

If Sony did the same with Killzone (although the gameplay in 1&2 could use some tweaks as well as graphical updates) it would be an instant PS4 purchase for me like the Xbone and MCC.

 

[Evonisia]

Yeah it wasn't a pleasant experience finishing Halo 4 for the second time then finding that the multiplayer went back to not working. I've only really managed three or four matches since launch, and only one of those was in my beloved Halo 3.

It's nice to see that you accepted fault, 343, it is, now fix it and live up to your duty and I will probably gain some actual respect for you.

 

[MCerberus]

The future of gaming folks: the games don't work but at least we made it easy for the NSA to spy on you.

 

[Slegiar Dryke]

I've said it time and time again to friends and fellow gamers. I HATE the prevalence of online misusage now with gaming and game systems excluding PC's (and no, not because "Dur hur pc gamer race"). I have a library of games ranging from genesis through to gamecube, game boy to original DS and psp games. and not one has ever needed to be patched to be perfectly playable and so well crafted you have to look hard to find the few tiny bugs that eeked in..... WTF happened to QUALITY?! Don't even care about if its master chief or some other game (full disclosure, I've never played halo, so go ahead, flame me if you want, you'll be ignored), it's 2000 freaking 14, heck, almost 15. dev costs are millions and millions.....and yet trash still gets released, and people still buy the bloody broken messes that get put out.............pathetic.

 

[Trishbot]

The modern era of gaming... where remakes of older games play worse than the games they're remaking.

 

[RicoADF]

I'm glad I canceled my XBO layby, after hearing there were issues with this and that Summerset Overdrive probably coming to PC I figured "what's the point?" Seriously Microsoft get your shit together.

 

[Haerthan]

Seems like it was a... MISCHIEF

YEEAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

You... cookie... enjoy.

 

[Callate]

A couple of months ago, Game Informer's "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" had, in its "good" column, something about purchasers of MCC with XBox Gold membership potentially getting access to Halo 5's two week four-player multiplayer beta. I sent an e-mail basically saying: "Let me get this straight: if you repaid for one or more games that you've probably already played if you're the sort of person who would be interested in Halo 5, and if you're paying for XBox Gold membership, then you get to be 343's unpaid beta stress tester for two weeks? And this is what constitutes 'good' news this month?"

...And that was before hearing about this matchmaking business. Jeezum Crow.

 

[Scow2]

A couple of months ago, Game Informer's "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" had, in its "good" column, something about purchasers of MCC with XBox Gold membership potentially getting access to Halo 5's two week four-player multiplayer beta. I sent an e-mail basically saying: "Let me get this straight: if you repaid for one or more games that you've probably already played if you're the sort of person who would be interested in Halo 5, and if you're paying for XBox Gold membership, then you get to be 343's unpaid beta stress tester for two weeks? And this is what constitutes 'good' news this month?"

...And that was before hearing about this matchmaking business. Jeezum Crow.

You get to play the game ahead of time after all major bugs had been fixed. While you're saying "I'm an unpaid beta tester!"... no, you're not. You're playing a game in a beta state. You are not shuffled into a tiny office with a dozen other people and forced to replay the same area over and over and over again doing the exact same thing trying to find insignificant bugs, then fill out a several-page report documenting each glitch you find. While not being able to say a damn thing about it because of an NDA.

Instead, you get early access to a game that may have a few technical flaws, but you can play at your own pace and leisure, and possibly talk freely about with your friends, doing your own thing, and maybe sending a brief ticket if you come across something game-breaking, if you feel like it.

For buying something you intended to buy anyway, while having a service you already use, and enjoy a popular series, you can get early access to the next game in the series. That is a very good deal.

Meanwhile at 343 Industries:

"99 little bugs in the code ♫
♫ 99 little bugs in the code ♪
♪ Take one down, patch it around ♫
♫ 117 little bugs in the code ♪"

This is something that happens at EVERY gaming studio. Frankly, the ignorance of game development in this community is offensively staggering.