While Halo Studios had previously confirmed that the physical release for Halo: Campaign Evolved will include a disc in the box, a social media account focused on testing if games run fine when the console is offline, “Does It Play”, has noted that the title still needs a download. Citing another social media user who got their hands on an early Collector’s Edition PS5 copy of the game, Does It Play has noted that an account is also required to start playing.
“Confirmation that the new Halo release is the expected coaster,” they wrote, referring to the fact that the disc may as well not exist. “[It] needs a download to start AND won’t let you play without an additional login even after.” Along with this, Does It Play has shared three screenshots to provide more context.
One of these screenshots is of the Game Information screen for Halo: Campaign Evolved on PS5, which notes that its download has been completed despite the size only being 37.94 GB. While the PlayStation Store hasn’t listed the storage requirements for the game, the PC version needs around 100 GB according to its Steam listing. With that in mind, around 38 GB would be less than half of the game’s files.
A second screenshot shows an in-game notification about a game update being available, asking the user to “please close the game and update to the latest version.” There doesn’t seem to be any option to skip the update even temporarily. The third one shows an error message about the user’s login attempt failing. These two screenshots together indicate that it will be impossible to start playing Halo: Campaign Evolved without being connected to the Internet at least during the first-time launch.
In further posts, Does It Play has posited that Halo Studios simply didn’t have all of the game’s files ready when discs for Halo: Campaign Evolved went into production. This seemingly comes down to the fact that the build of the game without any updates is one from April. When another user asked whether this is simply due to the game not yet being out, Does It Play responded: “What does a semi-empty disc and a hard-coded login prompt have to do with that? None of that changes after launch.”
Halo Studios’ statement about the physical release of Halo: Campaign Evolved featuring a disc came in light of the criticism faced by Rockstar Games over Grand Theft Auto 6 not including a disc in its release. While the studio hadn’t made any confirmation one way or another about whether all of the game’s content would be present on the disc, a quick look at its PlayStation Store listing reveals the “Online play required” tag, which indicates that players will need to be connected to the Internet in order to play it.
Halo: Campaign Evolved is coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S on July 28th. A Premium Edition is also available, which provides 5 days of early access to the shooter. For more, check out details about its Machina mode.
