10 Lies Video Games Could Never Recover From
9. Halo 5: Guardians - The Master Chief Vs. Lock Marketing
We go from Halo-killer to Halo itself. Halo 5 was touted as series regaining its foothold in the industry after fans were disappointed with initial release of the Master Chief Collection and the lack of longevity for Halo 4’s multiplayer.
A big marketing aspect used was the rivalry between Master Chief being chased by Agent Jameson Locke. They even produced an audio-play starring Keegan-Michael Key as a journalist tasked with uncovering the lies behind Master Chief’s falsified records.
A lot of players expected the game to culminate in a climactic battle between the two Spartans. The marketing really played up the idea of Locke hunting down Master Chief. However, everyone was left quite disappointed when the climactic showdown lasted all of five minutes and ended in a ‘bro moment’ where Locke and Master Chief decided to work together.
Many felt they were suckered in by a bait-and-switch. Some outlets actually felt that Halo 5’s storyline was a step backwards, worse than Halo 4’s. Not the glowing reviews Microsoft had hoped for.
Furthermore, feeling burned by Halo 5, when Halo: Infinite was shown off in 2020 the once-fervently loyal Halo fanbase was brutal in their critiques. So angry were the remarks about the game, no matter how endearing Craig the Brute may have looked, Microsoft decided to delay the game a year, to polish it before release.