Is it just me or has the hype for Halo 4 been very low key?

[Kuomon]

I'm currently working on the script to a new episode of my trailer review series, and while doing research for Halo 4 I've noticed that there aren't as many Gameplay trailers, or trailers in general, as you'd expect to see from a AAA flagship franchise like Halo.

Do you guys think it's reflective of Microsoft's confidence in 343 industries as a developer? They really seem to be pushing the extended universe and lore of the series as main interest points for this iteration, but I may have overlooked something. Or maybe I'm just over thinking this?

 

[Korten12]

I'm currently working on the script to a new episode of my trailer review series, and while doing research for Halo 4 I've noticed that there aren't as many Gameplay trailers, or trailers in general, as you'd expect to see from a AAA flagship franchise like Halo.

Do you guys think it's reflective of Microsoft's confidence in 343 industries as a developer? They really seem to be pushing the extended universe and lore of the series as main interest points for this iteration, but I may have overlooked something. Or maybe I'm just over thinking this?

Well it just reached 1 million preorders, so there is quite a degree of hype to get it that much.

 

[Kuomon]

Sure, but I would think the people most likely to preorder are fans; both those who are up to date on every detail regarding the game, and those who grew up with the franchise and will play the game out of habit.

It just doesn't seem to me like Halo 4 is getting the bombastic marketing treatment it used to have back when Halo 3 was coming out, or even when Halo Reach was coming out.

 

[Verbatim]

Eh?
They made a whole live action show(Very high production value for a video game promotion, got some real actors, the guy who plays MC is a freaking tank over 2M tall IRL and made 5 20min episodes) to promote it on MachinimaPrime, each of them has several million views...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca3Y8Ws3plI

And the game it self had like 4-5 trailers so far.

So no i don't really see any lower hype for this game than previous ones, at not from the marketing stance Microsoft is taking.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I would say closer to the release date but...the release date is really soon, isn't it? Like, 2 weeks from now. I remember back around Reach and ODST it was hard to find gameplay footage for the single-player campaign. Hell way back when Halo 3 was coming out (a game I was actively anticipating and looking for) and I never actually saw that one iconic commercial that had everyone creaming themselves over (the one that was eventually parodied for Bulletstorm I think)

I've noticed that outside of the Gamestop ads the Halo 4 ads don't seem to offer up any gameplay. I want to see some campaign action, dammit.

 

[Kuomon]

Eh?
They made a whole live action show(Very high production value for a video game promotion, got some real actors, the guy who plays MC is a freaking tank over 2M tall IRL and made 5 20min episodes) to promote it on MachinimaPrime, each of them has several million views...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca3Y8Ws3plI

And the game it self had like 4-5 trailers so far.

So no i don't really see any lower hype for this game than previous ones, at not from the marketing stance Microsoft is taking.

That's just the thing though. All the marketing money is going into selling the Halo expanded universe and not Halo 4. I'm not implying that Halo is becoming less popular or that it has somehow lost its status as an iconic flagship franchise, but I do get a vibe that Microsoft isn't putting all their money behind Halo 4 being a runaway success. I'd imagine it is because 343 industries is still considered an "untested" developer.

 

[Verbatim]

Eh?
They made a whole live action show(Very high production value for a video game promotion, got some real actors, the guy who plays MC is a freaking tank over 2M tall IRL and made 5 20min episodes) to promote it on MachinimaPrime, each of them has several million views...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca3Y8Ws3plI

And the game it self had like 4-5 trailers so far.

So no i don't really see any lower hype for this game than previous ones, at not from the marketing stance Microsoft is taking.

That's just the thing though. All the marketing money is going into selling the Halo expanded universe and not Halo 4. I'm not implying that Halo is becoming less popular or that it has somehow lost its status as an iconic flagship franchise, but I do get a vibe that Microsoft isn't putting all their money behind Halo 4 being a runaway success. I'd imagine it is because 343 industries is still considered an "untested" developer.

Selling the expanded universe is much more important, 343 is not a developer, it's the company that will handle the entire development of the Halo Franchise, which is believe it or not one of the biggest IP franchises since Star Wars...
Microsoft setting 343 to be the Next Lucas Arts, not just another development studio, this is why they are pumping game related media, merchandise and services like crazy.
Also the 10M$ show is not the expanded universe, it's tied directly into the start of Halo 4, just like the Halo 3 live action clips were tied directly into the start of Halo 3(The crash of MC).

 

[Korten12]

I would say closer to the release date but...the release date is really soon, isn't it? Like, 2 weeks from now. I remember back around Reach and ODST it was hard to find gameplay footage for the single-player campaign. Hell way back when Halo 3 was coming out (a game I was actively anticipating and looking for) and I never actually saw that one iconic commercial that had everyone creaming themselves over (the one that was eventually parodied for Bulletstorm I think)

I've noticed that outside of the Gamestop ads the Halo 4 ads don't seem to offer up any gameplay. I want to see some campaign action, dammit.

There is a lot of videos for the campaign.

 

[Kuomon]

Selling the expanded universe is much more important, 343 is not a developer, it's the company that will handle the entire development of the Halo Franchise, which is believe it or not one of the biggest IP franchises since Star Wars...
Microsoft setting 343 to be the Next Lucas Arts, not just another development studio, this is why they are pumping game related media, merchandise and services like crazy.
Also the 10M$ show is not the expanded universe, it's tied directly into the start of Halo 4, just like the Halo 3 live action clips were tied directly into the start of Halo 3(The crash of MC).

Fair enough. I've never doubted how big Halo has become as a Sci-fi franchise even if I personally don't get it, and the mass media focus is not a bad way to sell a game (it has done wonders for the relatively young Assassins Creed franchise after all). the problem I'm seeing here is that, unlike the Halo 3 clip you're referencing, is the layperson (i.e. average guy/girl who plays games but isn't enveloped in the culture)going to make that connection between the Forward Unto Dawn movie and Halo 4 in the same way he instantly made the connection with previous live action movies. In that respect the David Fincher produced launch trailer does a much better job.

 

[Verbatim]

Selling the expanded universe is much more important, 343 is not a developer, it's the company that will handle the entire development of the Halo Franchise, which is believe it or not one of the biggest IP franchises since Star Wars...
Microsoft setting 343 to be the Next Lucas Arts, not just another development studio, this is why they are pumping game related media, merchandise and services like crazy.
Also the 10M$ show is not the expanded universe, it's tied directly into the start of Halo 4, just like the Halo 3 live action clips were tied directly into the start of Halo 3(The crash of MC).

Fair enough. I've never doubted how big Halo has become as a Sci-fi franchise even if I personally don't get it, and the mass media focus is not a bad way to sell a game (it has done wonders for the relatively young Assassins Creed franchise after all). the problem I'm seeing here is that, unlike the Halo 3 clip you're referencing, is the layperson (i.e. average guy/girl who plays games but isn't enveloped in the culture)going to make that connection between the Forward Unto Dawn movie and Halo 4 in the same way he instantly made the connection with previous live action movies. In that respect the David Fincher produced launch trailer does a much better job.

Most people did not make the connection for Halo 3 either unless they were told or figured it out when they've played halo 3.

If any thing Dawn has a much better tie in to the game since the first episode broadcasts the distress signal from Cortana, and the captain of the ship that receives it is the main characters in the show who MC saves.
The show will end with MC being rescued from the derelict, or just right before that.

So yeah unless you have not played Halo 3, or know how it ended you might not really make the connection but i doubt it's aimed at those people.
And as far as the show goes, this show is good enough to attract the attention of people who did not played halo since it's really not bad.
The Halo 3 shorts on the other hand as good as they were could've been a promotion for any thing from Aliens to some stupid GAP commercial to people who did not know better..

 

[Korten12]

Selling the expanded universe is much more important, 343 is not a developer, it's the company that will handle the entire development of the Halo Franchise, which is believe it or not one of the biggest IP franchises since Star Wars...
Microsoft setting 343 to be the Next Lucas Arts, not just another development studio, this is why they are pumping game related media, merchandise and services like crazy.
Also the 10M$ show is not the expanded universe, it's tied directly into the start of Halo 4, just like the Halo 3 live action clips were tied directly into the start of Halo 3(The crash of MC).

Fair enough. I've never doubted how big Halo has become as a Sci-fi franchise even if I personally don't get it, and the mass media focus is not a bad way to sell a game (it has done wonders for the relatively young Assassins Creed franchise after all). the problem I'm seeing here is that, unlike the Halo 3 clip you're referencing, is the layperson (i.e. average guy/girl who plays games but isn't enveloped in the culture)going to make that connection between the Forward Unto Dawn movie and Halo 4 in the same way he instantly made the connection with previous live action movies. In that respect the David Fincher produced launch trailer does a much better job.

Most people did not make the connection for Halo 3 either unless they were told or figured it out when they've played halo 3.

If any thing Dawn has a much better tie in to the game since the first episode broadcasts the distress signal from Cortana, and the captain of the ship that receives it is the main characters in the show who MC saves.
The show will end with MC being rescued from the derelict, or just right before that.

So yeah unless you have not played Halo 3, or know how it ended you might not really make the connection but i doubt it's aimed at those people.
And as far as the show goes, this show is good enough to attract the attention of people who did not played halo since it's really not bad.
The Halo 3 shorts on the other hand as good as they were could've been a promotion for any thing from Aliens to some stupid GAP commercial to people who did not know better..

He won't be rescued as the Infinity lands on Requiem a bit after the Forward Unto Dawn lands on it. Since you can see in the gameplay trailers the Infinity crashing onto Requiem with the MC watching.

 

[Kuomon]

I would say closer to the release date but...the release date is really soon, isn't it? Like, 2 weeks from now. I remember back around Reach and ODST it was hard to find gameplay footage for the single-player campaign. Hell way back when Halo 3 was coming out (a game I was actively anticipating and looking for) and I never actually saw that one iconic commercial that had everyone creaming themselves over (the one that was eventually parodied for Bulletstorm I think)

I've noticed that outside of the Gamestop ads the Halo 4 ads don't seem to offer up any gameplay. I want to see some campaign action, dammit.

There is a lot of videos for the campaign.

Do you have links for the single player trailers, or at least the names? I'd really appreciate it, and it would help a lot with my research.

 

[crazyrabbits]

Eh?
They made a whole live action show(Very high production value for a video game promotion, got some real actors, the guy who plays MC is a freaking tank over 2M tall IRL and made 5 20min episodes) to promote it on MachinimaPrime, each of them has several million views...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca3Y8Ws3plI

And the game it self had like 4-5 trailers so far.

That really doesn't mean much. Obviously, the Machinima videos will always get huge views, but outside of the hardcore fanbase, I haven't seen a peep about this game. I can chalk it up to several reasons:

1) It's the hardcore gaming season. So many games are in the pipeline right now that it's difficult to choose what to spend time on. MoH Warfighter has had the same problem - it came out with nary a peep, primarily due to FPS overload/weak promotion/underwhelming beta/EA. Halo's got the same problem - outside of this series (and even that's just been on the gaming blogs), I've seen no mainstream mentions of the game anywhere in my region.

2) Brand perception. Outside of the hardcore fanbase, the perception of the series is still (just like it was in the last installment) "everyone plays it for the multiplayer". That, and there was the general apathy towards bringing the series back via another developer.

3) The campaign. You can already watch the whole campaign online at several sites, and it's a fairly short affair compared to its predecessors. Most of the reviews I've seen regarding it state that it's much more story-driven, but there isn't much meat to the campaign. Even the Legendary epilogue content hasn't caused much reaction.

4) Trailers. Aside from the webseries and the handful of trailers, there's been very little promotion about the game. It pales in comparison to other upcoming releases - there are trailers for Hitman Absolution premiering every week, Activision's been pimping Black Ops II for months, and the only thing we've gotten out of H4 is a few snippets of game footage and a couple trailers in the month leading up to its release. Even compared to H2's "Bees" ARG and H3's "Believe" campaign, it's a letdown. It's like they've stopped trying and just expect it to sell based on the brand alone, sans promotion.

From what I've seen, the game looks very good, but its promotion has been laughable.

 

[Korten12]

I would say closer to the release date but...the release date is really soon, isn't it? Like, 2 weeks from now. I remember back around Reach and ODST it was hard to find gameplay footage for the single-player campaign. Hell way back when Halo 3 was coming out (a game I was actively anticipating and looking for) and I never actually saw that one iconic commercial that had everyone creaming themselves over (the one that was eventually parodied for Bulletstorm I think)

I've noticed that outside of the Gamestop ads the Halo 4 ads don't seem to offer up any gameplay. I want to see some campaign action, dammit.

There is a lot of videos for the campaign.

Do you have links for the single player trailers, or at least the names? I'd really appreciate it, and it would help a lot with my research.

Okay here is it again... (WTF ESCAPIST!? I literally had a post being written out and then the page went all white and I lost it.)

Note the E3 level may or may not exist as the story told in it, doesn't actually happen and is much linear to show off the new enemies and weaponary.

Spoiler

Some previews:

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/370387/previews/halo-4-preview-hands-on-with-campaign-spartan-ops-and-more/
http://www.theverge.com/gaming/2012/9/21/3364656/Halo-4-campaign-preview
http://www.shacknews.com/article/75865/halo-4-campaign-preview-wake-up-chief
http://www.destructoid.com/preview-a-day-of-halo-4-turned-me-into-a-believer-235331.phtml

I've seen no mainstream mentions of the game anywhere in my region.

What region may that be? I keep seeing Halo 4 previews, ads, etc... Left and right. Hell on TV I saw it multiple times on Walking Dead. :/

 

[crazyrabbits]

I've seen no mainstream mentions of the game anywhere in my region.

What region may that be? I keep seeing Halo 4 previews, ads, etc... Left and right. Hell on TV I saw it multiple times on Walking Dead. :/

Toronto, Canada. You'd think for one of the three biggest cities in the country, we'd have seen more, but there's nothing as it stands.

Also, the last time a game was hyped on Walking Dead, it was Mass Effect 3 (with a modified poster/tie-in trailer preview to boot), and that didn't sell as well as the previous game. That's not really an indicator.

Like I said, aside from the online content, I haven't seen a peep about the game. Little to no chatter online, an underwhelming leak that seemed to be done more out of legacy than anything else, 'meh' reactions to the big reveal at the end...if it caused a topic like this to be posted, there's likely a problem in the way its being marketed.

 

[Kuomon]

Thanks a lot Korten12. Those are all very helpful. Now I need to get back to scripting and maybe try and catch some sleep too.

 

[BBboy20]

Is it me or, despite having the same amount of advertising as last time, talks about Black Ops 2 kind of stopped? Actually, that seems to be the case recently for returning yet still recent franchises that, quite frankly, not a lot have been talking about compared to last year and before.

Except for Assassin's Creed 3; that seems to be the only big AAA game I'm noticing that everyone has constantly been talking about despite not having that much of a marketing push compared to Halo 4 and having similar marketing COD's been doing.

 

[Doclector]

Well, I dunno about the advertising, there seems to have been just as much as most of the halo games.

But personally, I simply haven't been as excited. Maybe it's because I simply don't play as many online games these days, or maybe it's because many of my online friends simply aren't around as much anymore. With ODST and Reach, I knew that if I didn't have it, I basically wouldn't be playing with my friends until sometime around christmas. Now? I'm in parties with said friends a bit, but we hardly really play online anymore, and while I love halo multiplayer in itself, there's not that peer pressure and fear of being left out to motivate me about it.

 

[Aerosteam]

You can never really tell the overall hype for a game, I can leave you to assume that it's low for Halo 4 but I have no idea where you're getting that from.

While doing research for Halo 4 I've noticed that there aren't as many Gameplay trailers, or trailers in general, as you'd expect to see from a AAA flagship franchise like Halo.

You sure about that?

They really seem to be pushing the extended universe and lore of the series as main interest points for this iteration.

It's a good thing 343I are doing that, Halo has such a rich universe and none of the previous games hardly touched upon it.