Bungie: Around one million unique users play Halo 3 every day

by David Hinkle { Aug 13th 2009 at 4:15PM }

Halo 3's dominance in the weekly Xbox Live activity charts is well documented, but if you've ever sat around wondering just how many people give and receive teabags on any given day, you should probably consult a therapist. But, if you want to know how many people play the game, Bungie's Brian Jarrard confirmed with IGN that over one million unique users take part in online battles daily. Pretty impressive for a two year-old game, which, in gaming years, is the equivalent of Mr. Burns.

Tags: bungie, halo, halo-3, xbox-live

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Paul @ Aug 13th 2009 4:25PM

nice, does the simpsons still come on?

Storm Eagle [Resident Capcom Megafan] @ Aug 13th 2009 4:46PM

Yes, they still run new episodes. It's amazing.

Sean @ Aug 13th 2009 4:31PM

Yeah...I'd milk that too if I was Microsoft.

Carbonize @ Aug 13th 2009 4:37PM

I prefered Halo 2. I gave up on Halo 3 after waiting up to 15 minutes for a game and then getting all the people who live, eat and sleep Halo 3 constantly spawn killing. I saw turn of Live support for Halo 3 and bring out an updated version of Halo 2 for the 360 instead. 2 was a far better solo and multiplayer game.

goboColossus (LIVE, PSN - gobopop) @ Aug 13th 2009 4:50PM

Turn off LIVE support for Halo 3, did you not read the article? 1,000,000 people play this game every day!

I liked Halo 2's story and multiplayer maps better than Halo 3's, but the interface, campaign gameplay, custom game options, four player co-op, forge, theatre, and new weapons/game-types make 3 a much better game.

JUNG GUNS @ Aug 13th 2009 5:07PM

you are full of shit. no doubt in my mind you never played with a comment as stupid as that.

Mouthsmasher @ Aug 13th 2009 5:09PM

I play Halo 3 quite a bit, and I love it. But I'm going to have to agree that I did enjoy the Halo 2 multiplayer a bit more, and I liked the campaign and story a WHOLE lot more.

I wouldn't mind at all if Bungie had some way of releasing an online multiplayer only disc for Halo 1 and 2 like the H3 multiplayer disc they'll ship with ODST. If they could update the graphics but keep the same maps, engine, weapons, etc, I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

Yamagushi @ Aug 13th 2009 5:48PM

Funny cause last I checked most people felt like Halo 2's campaign was the rushed pile of crap. 3 was a much better game in all aspects.

RicoRich196 @ Aug 13th 2009 6:08PM

People talked so much shit about Halo 2s campaign and now their praising it. what the hell....porkchop sandwhiches!!

Carbonize @ Aug 13th 2009 6:09PM

Jung Guns only person full of shit here is obviously you since you had nothing intelligent to say at all.

God you'd think that when you click the link to take you directly to a comment that the stupid comment system would realise that anything you type is meant as a reply.

Carbonize @ Aug 13th 2009 4:54PM

As I said UPDATE Halo 2 to use the Halo 3 engine, graphics, enemy AI. I have yet to meet anyone who thinks Halo 3 was anything but the rushed pile it feels like.

Actually I personally feel that Bungie is missing a golden opportunity to rerelease Halo 1 and 2 for the 360 using the Halo 3 engine, character models and character AI. I wonder how hard it would be for them to do that. Oh well just my musing.

Mouthsmasher @ Aug 13th 2009 5:02PM

A nerdier, young, fatter me once wore a t-shirt to middle school that read: "Eat cheese, a billion mice can't be wrong."

Whether the logic hold or not, I say, "Play Halo, a million gamers can't be wrong."

Paul @ Aug 13th 2009 5:14PM

In this case they're wrong.

Dakar @ Aug 13th 2009 5:24PM

I'd be more curious as to how many UU Halo 2 gets per day... and how that stacks up vs. the 360s Top Ten.

logicbomb.de @ Aug 13th 2009 5:50PM

I just started playing this again last weekend and I'm having a blast.

What does suck about it tho is that ALL THREE map packs are required to join matchmaking and NONE of the packs are free or even discounted.

I had to spend $10 to buy the 3rd map pack in order to avoid wasting the $20 (actuallly $80 if you include the game's price at launch) I already spent!

Somethings not quite right about that.

Alex @ Aug 13th 2009 6:21PM

You HAVE to buy the maps, even if you don't want to play them? All other games you can play on the original on-disc maps even when new ones come out.

logicbomb.de @ Aug 13th 2009 6:25PM

Yep.....

I guess you can play without the map packs for custom games, but not in matchmaking. You'll just get a message saying "One or more players do not have the required map pack to join matchmaking"

and I had all but the 3rd pack.

LegendaryRedass @ Aug 13th 2009 6:44PM

same goes for cod4 too

logicbomb.de @ Aug 13th 2009 6:47PM

What about COD:WAW?

I only have the 1st map pack.....

goboColossus (LIVE, PSN - gobopop) @ Aug 13th 2009 6:54PM

CoD 4 at least used to separate players. If someone in your party didn't have the map pack, you'd only be matched with people in the same situation. I don't know if it still does...

W@W is different though. Instead of splitting the users, DLC maps still come up during matchmaking and right before the game starts, players without the map are kicked.

Personally, I'm kind of glad Halo does this now. Used to be I'd never see any DLC maps, now they come up all the time. I'm also one of the rare few that love Standoff and Rat's Nest, so I know my opinion is in the minority.

maveric101 @ Aug 13th 2009 11:25PM

there are some playlists that don't require dlc, or only free dlc (cold storage, i think first map pack is free now too). i don't remember all of them, but i know MLG doesn't need dlc, and maybe social slayer.

Carbonize @ Aug 14th 2009 4:28AM

CoD 4 does not require you to have the map packs. I play it all the time and have never downloaded the map pack for it.

Carbonize @ Aug 13th 2009 6:08PM

Jung Guns only person full of shit here is obviously you since you had nothing intelligent to say at all.

JUNG GUNS @ Aug 13th 2009 6:27PM

you are a douche and more importantly, nobody agrees with you.

Nieker @ Aug 13th 2009 6:30PM

+ you should learn how to use the reply button

Carbonize @ Aug 13th 2009 6:35PM

@Nieker - Read my comment where I did use the reply button. You think BlogSmith would make it automatically set to reply when you click the link in the notification emails.

Vander @ Aug 13th 2009 6:54PM

@Carbonize

Hey Dude...

Shut the fuck up!

West @ Aug 13th 2009 8:05PM

@Vander

Hey dude,

Thanks for saying exactly what I was thinking. Are you thinking what I'm thinking now? Lets go grab a milkshake! Oh, that wasn't what you were thinking? My bad bro.

Carbonize @ Aug 14th 2009 9:33AM

I tried to play Halo 3 this morning only for it to tell me I needed to be connected to Xbox Live to play online. So apparently I can chat with friends and browse the market place whilst not connected? Stupid bloody game.

Finally started working this afternoon and all the messages you see whilst waiting for games tell you a lot about the Halo community.

- All modded content in your share will be deleted
- All bandwidth modifying will result in a ban
- Do not give out your password hoping to get recon armor
- Pay Bungie money to get more storage space

Teabag @ Aug 14th 2009 1:31PM

Ahh, Halo 3. I would have played it still, and gladly paid for Gold if the game didn't lag for me so much. Not a complain, most games lag where i stay. If it had lagged like L4D or BFH, i wouldn't have minded so much. But oh well.

One million unique users. That is mighty impressive. Can we really blame Microsoft for milking the crap outta this franchise? I would turn evil if i had an Halo in my hand too.

Tim Johnson @ Aug 14th 2009 2:01PM

There's a lot of misinformation in this comment thread.

Carbonize: It's likely you had the game set in a local lobby. In my objective opinion and with two straight years of playing this game, I think that's confusing, and I've really not seen it necessary to actually set your lobby to be a local game while connect to Xbox Live, especially considering there are two other ways to lock your party.

As for the info messages, there are a lot of bad seeds in any community. Halo 3 gives players MUCH more interactivity possibilities than any other game on the market. This includes how the game is integrated with Bungie.Net.

It's extensive, if you're not aware, and it goes far beyond anything any other developer has been able to do. Got a sweet double kill last night? Record a clip of it in the theater mode of the game, and put it on your file share. Then you can render it on Bungie.net (if you have purchased Bungie Pro, which gives you 24 slots in your file share instead of 6, which is enough for the typical player) and save it as a WMV file to your computer. The quality is great.

As for requiring DLC, this is controversial in the Bungie community. However, you are NOT required to have all the DLC to play in matchmaking. Eight playlists out of the 15 require DLC you have to purchase. The Heroic map pack is free. And the Legendary map pack is discounted, I believe. Further, there is a free map called Cold Storage that was always free.

Regardless, I see this as a service to the real fans of Halo, such as myself. It means that I will get a better value out of my purchase because I will be able to play on these maps more often. Not to mention, I do recommend you pick up the map packs if you like this game. They are well-made and improve the experience greatly.

To the story in general, Bungie. Net usually reports about 800k UUs per day, not 1 million. Naughty Sketch!

Carbonize @ Aug 14th 2009 4:36PM

No I changed the lobby to Live and it still told me I wasn't connected. Possibly an issue with the server at the time since it all worked fine later.

I am a Halo fan having played all the games (except Halo Wars) and having read all the books. Halo 3, to me, is a major let down given all the hype they surrounded it with. Specially how all the key characters got killed off. Here's hoping that ODST returns to the gameplay and story telling we loved (yes I know it;s open world) and also hoping Reach makes us go wow.