Microsoft and 343 Industries have announced that the Halo: Master Chief Collection, comprising the first four core games in the Halo series, will be getting a fully enhanced edition next year for Xbox One X, four years after the Collection came out. The most important question however is, will Microsoft use this opportunity to finally bring it to PC?
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Halo: The Master Chief Collection came out in 2014 and comprised Halo 1-4, which are the Master Chief Halo games developed by Bungie (Halo 1-3) and 343 Industries (4). Halo 1 and 2 were the graphically enhanced Anniversary editions of the games. It contained a lot of bugs but the games themselves are still great. Unfortunately it and Halo 5 arrived before Microsoft's 2015 'Play Anywhere' mandate that all of their Xbox One games would also be available on PC through the Windows 10 Store.
Since then however every Microsoft game, no matter how big an exclusive, has come to PC. Quantum Break, Gears of War 4, Cuphead, ReCore, Forza 7, Halo Wars 1 and 2, even a limited version of Halo 5, with Sea of Thieves, Crackdown 3 and State of Decay 2 all due to come out on PC too. If Microsoft are doing a big update of Halo: Master Chief Collection for Xbox One X, it would be the perfect time to put it on PC - especially as they're the older games, so there will be little risk involved from a business standpoint - even if Microsoft cared about that now with Halo.
As announced today, work is underway on updates, fixes and Xbox One X enhancements for Halo: The Master Chief Collection – coming in 2018. pic.twitter.com/DlByQ2SkU1
— Halo (@Halo) October 18, 2017
The tweeted announcement promises updates, fixes and enhancements, which sounds a lot more than just a simple patch - especially if they're announcing it for 2018, four years later. It must be something pretty big and special, which a PC release would certainly count as.
Of course if it happens this wouldn't be the first time Halo appeared on PC. Both Halo 1 and 2 received PC ports long after their console release. Halo: Combat Evolved was ported by Gearbox and came out in 2003, two years after the original release, and is still playable today if you can find a physical copy. Halo 2 on the other hand was used as an incentive to upgrade to Windows Vista and was exclusive to both Vista and Games For Windows Live - two things that no longer exist. It's possible to get it working (we've done so) but it's an absolute pain. A release of the Halo: Master Chief Collection would be very welcome, and not just because Halo 3 and 4 still have not been released on PC.
While nothing is promised as of yet, we remain hopeful that Microsoft will indeed use this "enhanced edition" as an excuse to put out a PC version. Would you guys love to see that, or do you not care about the Halo series? Are you waiting on Bungie's Destiny 2 instead and think the series is done? Or are you really excited by both? Leave a comment below!
