I seriously did not even notice the difference with the crosshair placement until I really started playing Reach, and even then It didn't really bother me.

I still don't understand why people are complaining about it tbh, it is almost unnoticeable.

And as far as player count goes, COD games have almost always had more players playing them, I mean in 2009 when MW2 came out, its numbers where High above that of Halo 3, even though Halo 3 is a superior game. Same with Black Ops and Reach.