Offering four Halo games (including a remaster of Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2), The Master Chief Collection was expected to be a massive success when it launched for Xbox in 2014. However, due to the mountain of performance problems with the title, gamers grew to resent the Collection. Halo developer 343 Industries attempted many fixes, but for every problem solved, two more seemingly arose. With Halo 5: Guardians on the horizon, 343 eventually shifted its focus to that game. Ever since, the Master Chief Collection has remained broken.
However, hope was restored last year when 343 announced it was going to fix the game in 2018. With a testing program currently under way, things are looking up. As the game inches closer to stability, though, many are wondering if PC players will ever be able to play the game. Here's why I think they should.
Master Chief Collection won't sell consoles
Though The Master Chief Collection originally was a massive incentive to buy an Xbox One, the botched launch dealt a heavy blow to the reputation of both the Halo franchise and Xbox overall. To this day, many people wince at the mention of the Collection, and the entirety of the gaming community will be wary of a relaunch.
For these reasons, it's extremely unlikely that The Master Chief Collection will ever be a viable title for Microsoft to push as a console-seller. Considering the point of exclusives in the first place is to be exactly that, I see no reason why the game shouldn't be ported to and released on PC.
A starved community
People often forget that Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2 originally were released on PC. However, the multiplayer for both is offline, and it's almost impossible to get Halo 2 Vista to run on Windows 10. While these games are also difficult to play for the modern Xbox gamer, The Master Chief Collection offers them an out. Instead of breaking out an original Xbox console, they can just play the games on the Xbox One via the Collection.
PC players, though, cannot — and people who want to play an official Halo release on the platform are hopeless. Porting the Collection to PC would not only make it possible to do just that, but they could also play Halo 3, Halo 4, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, and Halo 2: Anniversary, all of which are experiences exclusive to the Xbox crowd.
The demand is there
Image credit: @VincentGat
One only has to look at the huge success of ElDewrito, a free Halo Online PC mod that aims to take the shut down game and use it to replicate Halo 3, to see that this is something people want. At one point, the mod was in the top eight most viewed games list on Twitch, and it routinely has thousands of people online at once.
Read: Halo Online officially declared dead
https://twitter.com/Gamecheat13/status/988574485799456768
Recently, I spoke to Gamecheat13, one of ElDewrito's developers, about the reasons why they created the mod. Here's what he had to say:
We really wanted a classic Halo experience, so we decided to modify this game (Halo Online) to fit that vision. It's made by Halo fans, for Halo fans.
The dedication to take the components of an abandoned Halo project and use them to try and clone Halo 3 for PC players is incredibly impressive, and the response to it is staggering. If a mod created by community members with few resources garners the attention of over 20,000 people at once, imagine the buzz that would surround a polished Master Chief Collection PC release backed by 343 Industries and Microsoft.
You can currently get Halo: The Master Chief Collection for Xbox One for $29.99 on both Amazon and Xbox One.
Your thoughts
Do you think The Master Chief Collection should release on PC? Let me know in the comments.
