Because the gameplay itself is actually feels very good to some people. The cool thing about the franchise is the way that the gameplay has developed over time. Part of the reason the MCC is so cool is because you can experience the franchise at all of its stages. Infinite’s gameplay feels like another interesting and enjoyable variation.
And yet, 343 was still managed to fumble the bag. Nobody wants a shop or battle passes in their halo game.
They’re squeezing whatever they can out of this game before its final whimper. The only people that would buy this $15 pack are people who don’t know anything about the game. Marketing it as a “starter pack” is so disingenuous that I can’t believe that Bungie had any other motive in mind than to con a few unaware people who are unlucky enough to pick up this game on a sale.
Maybe if they’d finally do something about the new player experience (specifically, the lack of one) this game could actually go back to its heyday. But they’re just committed to enshitifying it further with FOMO tactics, convoluted expansion/season pass/dungeon pass models.
I mean just try selling your friends on a game when you explain to them how much the upfront cost is to actually play the “real” game.