Halo: The Master Chief Collection PC Test Could Be Delayed

Though 343 Industries talked about the testing for Halo: The Master Chief Collection on PC beginning in April, it appears that plans could change. Community director Brian Jarrard did say this might happen earlier, and while 343 is “still optimistic this will be the case”, he also said it’s possible that “plans may not fully land as we initially hoped.” Jarrard shared his thoughts on a mini-update via HaloWaypoint.

“Previously I’ve said that ‘if things go according to plan, flighting should begin this month,'” he wrote. “As we’re now in the back half of April, I’m still optimistic this will be the case but it’s also possible those plans may not fully land as we initially hoped. Folks that have been around and follow me know that I’m all about trying to be as up front and honest as possible – both with good news and less favorable news.

“This means that sometimes we may share information about the current state of affairs and targets and plans that could end up changing slightly or dramatically. As long as folks want an open dialog, I’m happy to keep the information flowing, but we just need to all be mindful that talking about stuff early means there’s always risks of changes – but I’m committed to keeping you abreast of the full story and when things change, sharing that info as soon as possible so we’re always all on the same page. Cool? Cool.”

Currently, Halo: Reach – which was announced as a new addition to the Xbox One and PC versions of the collection – is requiring more work on PC. Jarrard noted that the game is “looking and playing great” on Xbox. The story is a bit more complicated for PC.

“PC is considerably more complicated and requires a lot more work,” wrote Jarrard. “We have internal builds floating around and have had lots of internal playtests that have been helping to generate bugs and gather valuable feedback. One of the team’s main priorities to support PC flighting is getting the mouse/keyboard controls feeling as good as possible and there’s been good progress on that front. Some key things are still coming together though – for example, in yesterday’s playtest build, the full UI and functionality to remap keys isn’t in yet so if you want to change defaults, it requires launching a separate application. That works for now, but isn’t a viable experience for any kind of external flighting,” he said. Jarrard still noted that the game looked “fantastic” and felt “pretty good”, so at least things are progressing well.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection first released for Xbox One in November 2014, but was also announced for PC release last month. Along with Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST’s campaign, and Halo 4, the collection would also include Halo: Reach. Players will be able to pick it up on both Windows Store and Steam, with the option of purchasing each separately.