Heads Up, PC Players: Microsoft Will Let You Play ‘Halo: The Master Chief Collection’ Early

Carl Velasco, Tech Times 19 March 2019, 07:03 am

As part of its just-released Halo Insider Program, Microsoft has announced that it's letting PC players sign up to test the upcoming Halo: The Master Chief Collection early, a game that won't come out until later this year.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection combines Bungie's Halo trilogy with Halo: Reach and the single-player campaign of Halo 3: ODST. It was announced last week that the PC port is coming both to the Microsoft Store and Steam. The collection originally came out in 2014 for Xbox One.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection Insider Program

Players who enroll in Microsoft's Halo Insider Program will have a chance to provide feedback and opinions on the game, which the company says will help shape and inform current franchise initiatives and the future of Halo, Moreover:

"You will also be given exclusive opportunities to participate in public flights of in-progress Halo game releases and provide feedback to the development teams."

Microsoft says the collection will be released in stages. First is Halo: Reach, which will be available in 4K resolution at 60 fps with HDR support for those planning to play the game on an Xbox One X console.

Will This Be Included In Xbox Anywhere?

The biggest downside is that, as Kotaku reports, the collection won't be heading to Microsoft's Xbox Anywhere program, which lets players buy select games and access them across different platforms without re-purchasing.

There are currently 73 games in the Xbox Anywhere program. Many of them are from third-party publishers, but most notably, the library includes every Xbox One game released by Xbox Game Studios since the program was announced. The only games not there are those which were released before Xbox Anywhere rolled out, such as Forza Motorsport 6 and Minecraft.

"[W]e are exploring ways to make sure that 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 as we get closer to launch," says Bonnie Ross, studio head at 343 Industries.