Dr Disrespect think Halo Infinite’s streaming viewership won’t last long without a Battle Royale mode and the stats support his theory. What is more Courage, DrLupo and Nadeshot also have voiced similar thoughts.
The Two Time, Nadeshot, Dr Lupo and CouRageJD all have thoughts about the longevity of Halo Infinite's multiplayer
Streamers have been discussing a potential Halo Infinite Battle Royale for months. However, 343 Industries hasn't given fans an official yes or no. As the release date gets closer and closer, many top creators are beginning to worry. YouTube streamer Dr Disrespect has stated his thoughts on the subject many times. But, in a recent broadcast he clarified everything once and for all.
Doc did participate in Halo Infinite's multiplayer beta launch back in September. His thoughts were positive and he continued that sentiment in his most recent stream.
"The team at Halo Infinite is going out of their way to cater to console players, to PC players," Doc said. "They're catering to everyone... and that's good. That's fantastic," he continued. He went on to say how much he loved the map designs and that the multiplayer gameplay was enjoyable overall.
"But here's the facts," he said forcefully. "There's no shelf life attached to sandbox shooters anymore in the streaming space," he said regarding Halo's multiplayer experience. "I don't know how many more times we've got to prove it."
He compared it against Call of Duty and explained that viewership always falls off shortly after release.
"There's no shelf life attached to sandbox shooters anymore in the streaming space"
The data agrees with Dr Disrespect's assessment of Call of Duty's yearly drop off in viewership
"Every single year Call of Duty comes out... how long does multiplayer last?" Dr Disrespect asks rhetorically.
Let's take a look at the data. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare released in October 2019 and became the highest selling game of 2020. At the time of launch it was the 6th most popular streamed game in the world according to Streams Charts.
By November Call of Duty: Modern Warfare ranked 17th and its place (nearly) steadily dropped each month from there. This was also a similar trend with Twitch Viewership as shown in the chart below. Dr Disrespect thinks Halo will face the same problem.
If you compare this trend to that of a Battle Royale game like Apex Legends, which released around the same time, you can see a stark difference. Apex achieved huge numbers at first but then saw a fairly significant drop off during the summer.
Since then, however, the game has risen steadily. If you look at the charts for Fortnite and Warzone you'll notice a similar trend of consistent viewership across large swaths of time.
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Dr Lupo, Nadeshot and CouRageJD are also hoping for a Halo BR
In the recent episode of the Courage and Nadeshot Show, the 100 Thieves brass discussed Halo's potential pitfalls at great length. They also got into why multiplayer games just aren't the same anymore.
"I think games like Call of Duty will always be successful," Nadeshot said, "But, when you're playing casually in Halo or Call of Duty or Gears of War... it just doesn't hit the same way anymore."
CouRageJD followed up by saying that developers have done such a good job building off of traditional multiplayer games - referring to tactical shooters and Battle Royales. So much so, in fact, that it makes it hard to go back.
Dr Lupo agreed by mentioning the pressure and excitement that comes from games like the BR-adjacent game Escape From Tarkov.
To be fair to 343 Industries, we don't have official word as to whether a Battle Royale mode will eventually be released. However, back in 2018 Halo Narrative Writer Jeff Easterling said during a livestream that "the only BR we're really interested in is Battle Rifle."
This came at the height of Fortnite and PUBG and just before the releases of Call of Duty's Blackout BR and Battlefield V's BR mode. Today were' seeing the biggest voices in the community plead with 343 to follow suite. Will Halo answer the call?
