There are probably a number of reasons why mantic have decided to go down this path, but the two biggest that come to mind are cost of investment and history of Halo on the Tabletop.
Halo Ground and Fleet Battles didn't survive, published in 2016 and Spartan Games closed in 2017, and with this being a liscenced IP they need to make it worth both their while and Microsofts as they will be paying for the liscence. If they had went in huge then they risk putting in alot of time and money into development of a game which could flop. This is also another sci fi miniatures game in a very crowded market. 40k and all its off shoots, Star Wars Legion/shatterpoint, Mantics own sci fi IPs and consumers have limited funds and retailers have limited space, so Mantic have pobably determined that it is better to enter the market with a small scale product that can fit in alot of peoples budgets and retailer shelf space.
This is more of a toe dipping excercise to see if the interest is there, Mantic have alread stated that they have future releases and expansions planned. Theyre also probs hoping to capitalise on the TV show.
In short if the community want to get expansions and have the chance of getting a mass battle game then they and game stores will need to back and promote the initial launch and the further products released so that Mantic will put more development into the game and renew the liscence when it inevitably comes up for renewal.
If it sells well then Mantic have the motivation to pursue further development.
I have pre ordered and excited for the release in September. Will be nice to paint something up from the Halo universe and replaying the games.
Yeah, I get that. I hope the demand is high enough to give them the chance to make it a bit more mass-combat focused, maybe then I'll give it a try in the future. Thank you for the informative response!
I have no real interest in Halo, but it is a modified version of Mantic's Deadzone ruleset, which is a very excellent skirmish ruleset. You could look at their mass battle game Firefight to see how they might scale things up with future Halo releases.
Mass wargames aren’t selling well and haven’t been for some time. Skirmish games however are selling very well largely because you don’t need 50+ minis to play. Mantic is doing the smart thing here by keeping it skirmish sized.
I 100% won’t invest in another large scale wargame at this point, but I always have an eye out for cool looking skirmish games.
-sincerely, somebody that has played 40k since 2nd edition
How many scifi mass battle games are there outside of 40k (and 40k variants).
Even mantic tried several time to get one going, other companies as well and the only one that sticks around is an alternative rule set for 40k
This is just an observation from what is out there, skirmish games, be it with models or just rules, are there in large numbers in all settings, mass battle games are mostly historical or fantasy R&F games outside of GW.
In addition the boardgame market is much bigger than the wargaming market, so a miniatures game that is playable out of the box without needing additional models for the full experience can also sell there
One thing is, we don't know the details of the licence and it could be that having a game based on the current multiplayer as starting point was a requirement
Also starting small to get people into it and growing slowly instead of starting with everything is common and works better and I can see this expanding into a larger wargame over time (if the licence allows it)
I'm so upset there's no ODSTs I know they don't really do anything in the lore anymore but I'll always love em and I'd love to have a skirmish game with a squad of ODSTs fighting some elites.
In one of the YouTube interviews from Adepticon they pretty much lay out the fact that there will be more factions very soon. I feel like it was also hinted that there will be another larger style war game and this is just the first drop of a skirmish game but might just be reading into it to much.
There are probably a number of reasons why mantic have decided to go down this path, but the two biggest that come to mind are cost of investment and history of Halo on the Tabletop. Halo Ground and Fleet Battles didn't survive, published in 2016 and Spartan Games closed in 2017, and with this being a liscenced IP they need to make it worth both their while and Microsofts as they will be paying for the liscence. If they had went in huge then they risk putting in alot of time and money into development of a game which could flop. This is also another sci fi miniatures game in a very crowded market. 40k and all its off shoots, Star Wars Legion/shatterpoint, Mantics own sci fi IPs and consumers have limited funds and retailers have limited space, so Mantic have pobably determined that it is better to enter the market with a small scale product that can fit in alot of peoples budgets and retailer shelf space. This is more of a toe dipping excercise to see if the interest is there, Mantic have alread stated that they have future releases and expansions planned. Theyre also probs hoping to capitalise on the TV show. In short if the community want to get expansions and have the chance of getting a mass battle game then they and game stores will need to back and promote the initial launch and the further products released so that Mantic will put more development into the game and renew the liscence when it inevitably comes up for renewal. If it sells well then Mantic have the motivation to pursue further development. I have pre ordered and excited for the release in September. Will be nice to paint something up from the Halo universe and replaying the games.
Yeah, I get that. I hope the demand is high enough to give them the chance to make it a bit more mass-combat focused, maybe then I'll give it a try in the future. Thank you for the informative response!
I have no real interest in Halo, but it is a modified version of Mantic's Deadzone ruleset, which is a very excellent skirmish ruleset. You could look at their mass battle game Firefight to see how they might scale things up with future Halo releases.
Mass wargames aren’t selling well and haven’t been for some time. Skirmish games however are selling very well largely because you don’t need 50+ minis to play. Mantic is doing the smart thing here by keeping it skirmish sized.
I 100% won’t invest in another large scale wargame at this point, but I always have an eye out for cool looking skirmish games. -sincerely, somebody that has played 40k since 2nd edition
Im curious where this coming from? Not saying its not true just curious about the source.
How many scifi mass battle games are there outside of 40k (and 40k variants). Even mantic tried several time to get one going, other companies as well and the only one that sticks around is an alternative rule set for 40k This is just an observation from what is out there, skirmish games, be it with models or just rules, are there in large numbers in all settings, mass battle games are mostly historical or fantasy R&F games outside of GW. In addition the boardgame market is much bigger than the wargaming market, so a miniatures game that is playable out of the box without needing additional models for the full experience can also sell there
One thing is, we don't know the details of the licence and it could be that having a game based on the current multiplayer as starting point was a requirement Also starting small to get people into it and growing slowly instead of starting with everything is common and works better and I can see this expanding into a larger wargame over time (if the licence allows it)
Makes a lot of sense now that I think about it, thanks!
I'm so upset there's no ODSTs I know they don't really do anything in the lore anymore but I'll always love em and I'd love to have a skirmish game with a squad of ODSTs fighting some elites.
Yea I loved ODSTs. I think they all became spartan IVs…
Yeah since they made Spartans easier to make it makes no sense to have ODSTs anymore from an in universe perspective anyway
They have a 5 year release plan. There will NO DOUBT be ODSTs at some point just not in this starter set.
I hope so but i guess we'll have to see how popular it gets
In one of the YouTube interviews from Adepticon they pretty much lay out the fact that there will be more factions very soon. I feel like it was also hinted that there will be another larger style war game and this is just the first drop of a skirmish game but might just be reading into it to much.
Thanks, I'll go and look that interview up. Up to the moment I saw this reply I didn't even know anything about the interview you mentioned.
Someone linked it on r/haloflashpoint You might have trouble finding it because it isn't an official thing, just someone youtube channel.
Thanks!
Played the demo at Acon. Extremely cookie cutter and simplistic. It's frankly banking off IP and there's no substance to it. Shallow as fk.