The Xbox gamers are just as much to blame as 343, imo. There would be a massive revolt within the Xbox community if there are big changes to Halo multi-player. The truth is, arena shooters with little variety in gameplay is a dead genre. But Microsoft is scared of fracturing the fanbase by allowing creativity beyond traditional Halo PvP
Halo worked absolutely fine, was super popular.
you know when it stopped being popular? when Halo 4 happened. when they threw away the arena shooter formula and chased trends.
and ever since 343i was chasing trends. Halo was once a trend setter, it was its own distinct thing. then 343i happened and all that was out the window.
suddenly Halo needed a sprint button, suddenly Halo needed Loadouts and kill streaks, then Titanfall happened and suddenly Halo needed boosters, hovering in the air, vaulting and aiming down sights.
and even with Infinite, where they supposedly went back to what makes Halo Halo, they still fucked it up because they just couldn't help themselves from copying other shooters yet again.
friendly fire? can't have that! CoD doesn't have that!
grenade and rocket jumps? CAN'T HAVE THAT! that's not what CoD does!
omnidirectional movement that doesn't impede on your ability to aim and shoot? NAAAAHHH! can't have that because in CoD you can sprint and vault, so you gotta lower your weapon and change your view direction to do jumps now! because CoD does that!
Halo, ever since 343i took over is literally just "how can we cram as much CoD into Halo as possible, without making it look like we stole their homework?"
you know what truly would stand out and attract an audience? NOT COPYING OTHER POPULAR GAMES! because those games have an audience, and that audience won't suddenly play your game just because you copy their game.
Halo with friendly fire, with the fun physics of classic Halo, without any movement nonsense that pulls you out of combat just to get up on a platform, that is a game that would stand out as unique nowadays. and a unique and well made shooter absolutely has a far better chance in today's landscape than yet another shooter that does force bullshit in that's popular for the sake of trying to appease players that don't have any interest in your game in the first place