Unfortunately, the game was cancelled due to lack of progress effectively extinguishing any hope for a true Halo game to come to PC. Using a modified Halo 3 engine, with the addition of many other weapons, maps and more from Halo. In this hopeless time, a game titled Halo Online was announced in 2015 which would’ve been an online only game for PC. While these were indeed official Halo titles none of them generated a fraction of the hype or interest in a grand scale for the PC community. Even a small Forge port for Halo 5 was brought over, but contained little of what the community was looking for.
Small scale twin-stick shooters Halo: Spartan Assault & Strike would make their debut on Windows PC while the release of Halo Wars 2 would release along side a remaster of Halo Wars in 2017. However, several small scale Halo games would eventually make their way to PC. As the industry seemed to focus more on exclusive games the likelihood for Halo 3 – or any major Halo release – continued to seem extremely unlikely. For over a decade, there was no word on when a PC port for Halo 3 would occur, and many lost hope in the dream.Īs the years passed, Halo would continue to skyrocket in its success on the various Xbox platforms as PC was never addressed in any official capacity. Many fans, however, would be left behind, unsure if they’d ever get the chance to finish the fight on PC. Halo 3 would be the catalyst that would result in some fans, including myself, to make the switch from PC to the Xbox 360 platform. As such, Halo 3 became infamous as one of the most requested console exclusives ever to be ported to PC in its time. While this left the entire PC community unable to finish the fight they also missed out on the most popular & respected Halo title to ever release. When Halo 3 originally released in 2007 on the Xbox 360, it was the first title to not receive a port to the PC platform. This not only limited players who wanted to play the game, but this would also be the final PC port of a main Halo game for 12 years. The game was ported by Hired Number and included visual enhancements and better textures, however was held back due to its requirements of Windows Vista. Halo 2 PC released on May 31st, 2007 for Windows Vista mere months prior to Halo 3’s launch on Xbox 360. This awakened a passionate modding community that is still active today, creating amazing new content for people to enjoy.
Ironically however, the PC version suffers from a multitude of graphical downgrades due to port issues, which would occur in later ports as well.Īdditionally, Gearbox Software also released a multiplayer-only standalone expansion for PC titled Halo: Custom Edition. This version of Halo: Combat Evolved allowed players to browse and play user-created maps and content, and provide modding tools to create their own. Halo: Combat Evolved PC released on Septemand was ported by Gearbox Software & Westlake Interactive. Aside from the use of mouse & keyboard (KBM), the gameplay was very similar to its Xbox counterpart but with the addition of new weapons and 16 player online multiplayer mode. This would be the beginning of the demand for Halo on PC. Halo has always been Xbox’s flagship since its debut in 2001 some may be surprised to learn that Halo: Combat Evolved & Halo 2 were ported to PC as well. To answer that question, we must look back at the franchise’s difficult history on the PC platform.
So the question remains: why is the release of Halo 3 on PC such a big deal? With the very recent release of Halo 3 on the PC platform a historic moment in gaming has occurred of immense importance to PC gamers and the industry as a whole. Since its announcement in April 2019, a team at 343 Industries has been hard at work bringing Halo: The Master Chief Collection to PC via Steam and Windows.