Halo: The Master Chief Collection will be coming to PC, someday, and fans are dying to know when they can expect these titles to become available on platforms like Steam. Microsoft has previously mentioned, specifically Phil Spencer, that they never want to make announcements without having a solid release window. Seems we are getting more of the same message this time around as well.
Fans are starting to get a bit aggressive while they tentatively wait on the reveal for the games, such as what can be found on Twitter when users are starting to reach out to employees and bombard them with accusatory tweets. Among them, one user ‘Josh’ claimed that Microsoft/343 Studios has fallen back on their word, stating that they confirmed the Collection would be all out on PC by the end of the year. Halo Community Manager, Brian Jarrard replied immediately to shut that down and make sure there was no misunderstanding on the release date expectations:
Hey Josh, we’ve never said anything about all the games arriving on PC this year. We’ve been consistently saying they’re ready when they’re ready. We certainly hope Reach arrives by end of year but much depends on flighting outcomes – when it’s ready, it’ll launch.
— Brian Jarrard (@ske7ch) October 31, 2019
As Brian mentions, Halo: Reach is slated to be the first title released, with a target of 2019. As we are currently sitting in November, and no word on when it can be expected beyond hoping that it will be ready this year, it doesn’t seem likely that 2019 will see Reach on PC/Steam.
The plan that Microsoft and 343 have for Halo, is to release the collection one title at a time, starting with Reach, unlike the 2014 XBO collection which did not come with Reach, but instead contained only Halo 1-4 (and later ODST), all on one disc for less than $60 USD. Although, we do not know what the price will be for each individual game on PC as Microsoft has not mentioned it either.
Once Halo: Reach has been released, the rest of the games will follow in order, starting with Combat Evolved (Anniversary), Halo 2 (Anniversary), Halo 3, ODST, and then Halo 4. No word on if Halo 5 Guardians will be coming to Steam, but we suspect it will at some point, along with future Halo titles. Of course, we assume that Microsoft will want to release any new Halo titles on their flagship XBO console exclusively first, then most likely to PC after that, but we are just guessing at that point.
