After years of waiting, Halo: The Master Chief Collection is coming to PC.
Halo has traditionally been an Xbox exclusive for much of its life but the PC community has always shown interest in the franchise.
During a recent Inside Xbox episode, 343 Industries and Microsoft announced the Master Chief Collection would be coming to both Steam and Windows 10.
We didn’t receive much more information outside of that. Fans were wondering what this means for the Xbox One version as it was unclear if the game would be a Play Anywhere title.
Play Anywhere titles are games you could buy digitally on Xbox One and also get a copy on Windows 10. Most Microsoft exclusive games fit this bill which is why players were wondering.
Here’s what we know about Halo: The Master Chief Collection having cross-play and it being Play Anywhere.
Will Halo: The Master Chief Collection Be a Play Anywhere Title?
Halo is finally coming to PC.
First-party exclusives like Crackdown 3, Sea of Thieves, Forza Horizon 4, etc. have all been Play Anywhere titles which means it should be safe to assume Halo: The Master Chief Collection will be one as well.
Hold on a minute.
The Master Chief Collection is not a Play Anywhere title, at least right now. This means that digital Xbox One owners will have to purchase the game again on PC if they want to play there.
Here’s what 343i had to say about that, via Windows Central.
I think one of the questions we’ve gotten is will MCC PC support Xbox Play Anywhere. And first off I wanted to say, we so appreciate all the support we’ve had from Xbox One community with MCC, and we’re obviously bringing Reach to MCC. And while MCC shipped before the XPA Play Anywhere [program], we are exploring ways to make sure we show our appreciation and recognition for the support we’ve had from the amazing fans on MCC. And we’ll have more to announce once we get closer to launch.
Will Halo: The Master Chief Collection Have Cross-Play?
The Master Chief Collection will be available on Windows 10 and Steam.
Cross-play between PC and consoles when it comes to shooters has long been a point of contention.
We’ve seen games like Fortnite open it up and it works quite well, on the other hand, we see games like Sea of Thieves enable an opt-in option, despite the skill gap being much closer in that game.
It sounds like Halo will not have a cross-play option, at least at first.
Here’s what 343i has to say about that, according to the same Windows Central article.
I think people have asked a lot about cross-play. And I think there’s two different discussions there. I should say on PC, you’re going to get the same great experience regardless of which store you buy it from, right? [We] want players to have a choice there. Certainly, whether you pick it up on the Windows Store or Steam, you’ll play together, that’s not a problem.
The real question on people’s mind is can I play Xbox against PC? And truth be told right now, we are really focused on making sure that we can bring these games to PC in the right way. But the team would love to hear feedback on this and as we get further down the road, it’s something I think we’re going to have to evaluate, and if it’s something that the community wants and makes sense, I think the team wants to make it happen. But right now, we really need to focus on getting these PC products out the right way.