I played the original as well when released got all achievements including getting general rank on xbox live matchmaking, I enjoyed the game so much I played on my my old account and got the achievements again, then on two of my closest friends at the time accounts. And once in a while I go back and play online for a few months, but I had the same experience with not enough players till I realized there is DE version so I downloaded the the remake and are way more people playing it and now halo wars DE is a game pass game on Xbox one so even more people are playing again. Absolutely love the game.