343 Industries: “We Will Make This Right With Our Fans”
“We have not delivered the experience you deserve,” wrote Bonnie Ross, 343’s head, yesterday. “I personally apologize for this on behalf of us all at 343 Industries. Our team is committed to working around the clock until these issues are resolved.”
Spartan-117’s debut on the Xbox One has been nothing short of disastrous. Halo: The Master Chief Collection’s multiplayer suite, featuring over one hundred maps spanning four main installments, is riddled with matchmaking issues, UI bugs, and has prevented a majority of players from accessing the online components that the series is famous for.
A patch targeting these problems was released late last week but for many, myself included in the ranks, its affects are minuscule with several of the same key issues like long matchmaking times, failed sessions, and uneven rosters still rampant.
“Within 343 Industries and Xbox,” writes Ross, “I can assure you that resolving these issues is our #1 priority.” Both sides of the fence are apparently prepping a slew of content updates meant to improve the title’s dismal state. Ross is careful to note that her team won’t just be analyzing data from the controlled server environment at 343 but will be studying how improvements are working with “fans at home."
"Our primary and continued focus is first on fixing the issues at hand. Once we’ve done that, we will detail how we will make this right with our fans.” Sounds like free DLC to me.
Given the game’s high profile and Xbox’s posturing for it to be the Holiday console seller, The Master Chief Collection’s problems have overshadowed fellow broken-out-of-box releases like Drive Club, which suffered crippling server difficulties, and Assassin’s Creed Unity, a game so riddled with bugs it’s not uncommon to see NPC’s without a fucking face. You know you’ve got a crisis on your hands when people can forget that horror long enough to be angry at your game.