Over the last twelve months, 343 Industries and Microsoft have brought Halo: The Master Chief Collection to PC with a fragmented launch, with individual releases for Halo: Reach, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Halo 2 Anniversary, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, and Halo 4 (you can read our reviews for each through the links). Other than the first two games in the series, neither had ever been available for PC audiences before The Master Chief Collection’s launch, which means millions who hadn’t been able to play those games before have now had the chance to jump into them.
In fact, as per 343 Industries studio head Bonnie Ross, Halo: The Master Chief Collection’s cumulative PC launch over the past year has brought about the largest addition of new players to the franchise since Halo 3 came out all the way back in 2007.
“During this time, we launched FIVE games as part of Halo: The Master Chief Collection on PC, leading to the largest addition of new players to the franchise since Halo 3,” Ross wrote in an end of the year update on Halo Waypoint. “In addition, the team put in a ton of work to release optimized console versions for Xbox Series X|S along with numerous community-requested features for all platforms. And there’s more MCC content coming next year!”
If you’re wondering whether we’ll be seeing the launch of Halo 5 on PC via a surprise addition to The Master Chief Collection anytime soon- don’t hold your breath. 343 Industries seem to have no such plans.
Meanwhile, 2021 is also promising to be a big year for Halo. It was recently confirmed that Halo Infinite will release in Fall 2021. It will be coming to Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC.