For many longtime fans of the series, Halo 3 is considered one of the best games in the franchise. Halo 3 introduced many unique elements that weren't seen in previous installments in the Halo series, such as new weapons and vehicles. However, given the recent shutdown of the Xbox 360 servers for Halo 3, one fan of the game has shared a touching moment from when the game was first released.
Since the Xbox 360 servers for Halo 3 shut down on January 13, many players have reminisced about the glory days of Halo 3's online multiplayer. While Halo 3's multiplayer can still be enjoyed via Halo: The Master Chief Collection, many players have continued to enjoy Halo 3's multiplayer for years on the console the game originally released on. Now, thanks to one player, fans of Halo 3 can revisit a touching moment from the early days.
A Reddit user named BovingdonBug posted a time-lapse image that shows how the population map in Halo 3 began to light up all over the world the night the game first launched. The population map helped to show how many players were online at any given time and where in the world they were playing from. Seeing how many players came together on launch night is certainly magical to witness.
As Halo 3 multiplayer closes, a memorial of launch night: The US lights up in sections as each timezone hits midnight and thousands of players play for the first time. from halo
The fact that Halo 3's multiplayer has managed to persist for so long is a true testament to the influence that Halo 3 has had on the Halo community as a whole. For fifteen years, the multiplayer servers stayed online, and now to finally see them shut down truly marks the end of an era for Halo.
It's clear that both Microsoft and 343 Industries are aware of how important Halo 3 is to people. Therefore, the fact that Halo 3 can be played on PC, as well as both the Xbox One and the Xbox Series X/S, should be encouraging to Halo 3 fans. Not to mention, Halo Infinite's multiplayer is entirely free-to-play.
In any case, it will be interesting to see what the future holds for Halo going forward. So far, Halo Infinite has enjoyed a massive amount of success, but there's still a lot of content missing from the main game. For instance, many players have been looking forward to the newest rendition of Forge mode via Halo Infinite. With any luck, new details on upcoming features will be unveiled in the coming months.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection is available now on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.