Halo Infinite's Post-Launch Troubles Show That The All-In-One Shooter May Be Dead

thegamer.com:

Back in the PS3 era, you would be hard pressed to find a single-player shooter that didn't also include some kind of competitive or co-op component. Halo and Call of Duty were always complete packages, bundling a single-player campaign with a suite of multiplayer modes. But, outside of the realm of competitive shooters, the games that we now think of as defining the triple-A single-player experience also tacked on ways to play with friends. From the series' debut until 4, Uncharted included multiplayer and The Last of Us had Factions mode.

Over the past decade, games have become increasingly stratified. Overwatch didn't include a single-player campaign despite Blizzard charging full price for it back in 2016. The Last of Us Part II didn't pack in a Factions sequel when it launched in 2020, with Naughty Dog instead promising that it would arrive as a standalone game at some point down the line. More than two years have passed, and we still haven't seen Factions 2. Instead, we got a remake of The Last of Us that, unsurprisingly, didn’t include the Factions mode from the original game.

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This is the reality that has been created by game development’s swelling costs, the constant triple-A march toward ever greater graphical fidelity and systemic complexity, and the expectation that every multiplayer title must be a ‘forever game.’ When Uncharted 2: Among Thieves released in 2009, its multiplayer mode was a value add. It was additional content that helped make the game seem like it was ‘worth’ the $60 price tag. It also, hopefully, would keep players occupied long enough that they wouldn’t end up returning the game to GameStop.

With Halo Infinite, 343