(tl;dr at the bottom) Okay, so as we all know the Grenade Launcher was not in Halo 4. It was replaced by the Sticky Detonator. And the reasoning for the removal is that it was under-powered and underused. Seems legit, right? If a weapon is bad, they remove it. BUT WAIT! As many people can attest to, the Grenade Launcher (aka Pro-Pipe) was not in fact under-powered. It just had a very high SKILL-GAP. (Important!) Emphasis on skill. If you were good with it, you could get an instant kill. However, not many people were good with it. So it still seems like a legitimate reason to remove it, correct? But wait! You might be saying, "But Hawke, it was still very underused, even if it was not under-powered." And that is correct. It was extremely underused. And we want to avoid unnecessary sandbox clutter, right? But there's a problem. I'm going to bring your attention to the Concussion Rifle. So, it was a 3 shot kill. (Direct Hits) It fired and reloaded significantly faster than the Grenade Launcher. It also was used less/weaker than the Grenade Launcher. AND it was significantly easier to get kills with. Yet, it still returns in Halo 4. BUT, it was nerfed to a 4 Shot Kill. Now, stay with me here. My question to you is: Why does the Concussion Rifle, which is weaker and used less than the Grenade Launcher, return in Halo 4? And remember: 343i said that the Grenade Launcher was too underused and underpowered to return in Halo 4. Yet, the Concussion Rifle was weaker and used less than the Grenade Launcher. But why did it return in Halo 4? Wasn't the point of removing the Grenade Launcher to remove underpowered, underused weapons? I have a theory on that. WARNING: THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS NOT FACTUAL. IT IS ALL SPECULATION. (Credit goes to the Halo Wikia for the warning.) Ok, so I have a theory. The Concussion Rifle was: Easier to use than the Grenade Launcher. It took less skill. EMPHASIS ON SKILL. Now, as we know, 343i tried to make Halo 4 more "accessible" (easier). And the concussion rifle was easier than the Grenade Launcher to use. Since 343i was trying to remove the "high" skill gap in Halo, they ditched the Grenade Launcher because it had a skill gap/learning curve. Like, you either could get kills with it, or you couldn't. So, they replaced it with a new weapon: the Sticky Detonator, in order to make the game easier. Do you agree or disagree? Let me know below! If you also have a theory as to why this happened, feel free to comment. (Also, please try to keep this civilized. If you disagree, don't go, "OMG! UR SO STUPID! THE GL WAS SOOOO OP." And please, if I have any misinformation, let me know so that I can correct it ASAP. tl;dr: The Concussion Rifle was underpowered and used less than the Grenade Launcher. However, it took significantly less skill to use. But, the reason the Grenade Launcher was removed was that it was underpowered and underused. So why does the Concussion Rifle return and not the Grenade Launcher (Pro-pipe)? (Please read the speculation section for my theory.) Thanks for reading the entire thing.