Well it’s not surprising that Halo 5 Guardians have insane Player Retention. According to Josh Holmes (343i Studio Head) the latest in the Halo franchise is keeping players engaged more than any other Halo game, except for Halo 3 which is regarded as the best multiplayer in the franchise by some.
However, it hasn’t been without hiccups. There are a few areas where matchmaking is falling short of our goals and not providing the experience that we would prefer for allplayers. With this in mind, the services and multiplayer teams here at 343 Industries have been hard at work at improving and fine tuning the Halo 5 matchmaking experience. Work continues on geographic, infrastructure and code-based solutions. This game is a service, and we’ll continue to improve it throughout its lifespan.
This comes after Holmes posted a blog on the Halo Waypoint site about continual advances in the way Halo 5 Multiplayer improves. According to Holmes, 95% of all Halo 5 games are played on a Ping of 125ms or less. Matchmaking times are improving as well.
I’m not downplaying the importance of matchmaking speed, but getting stomped can be really discouraging. It can lead to players dropping out of the game permanently, especially if it happens early in their experience (based on data). For what it’s worth, Halo 5 Multiplayer has the best player retention of any Halo game other than Halo 3. So to some degree the close matches seem to be working. That said, it may not be optimal for all hoppers and there is always room for improvement.
Halo 5 Guardians took the throne as the best selling Exclusive game of 2015 according to Microsoft, with over $400 Million in sales during the first week on sale. The game also took the crown as the best selling exclusive in the UK and US.
Halo 5 Guardians is currently available on Xbox One.
