343 Industries posted a new development update blog post last Friday, sharing more about their plans for Halo The Master Chief Collection (which recently got Halo 3 on PC). Fans can expect some major features such as crossplay, mouse and keyboard support on Xbox One, and even mod support later on.
FEATURES PLANNED FOR RELEASE IN 2020
- Crossplay
- Input Based MM
- Sever Region Selection
- Custom Game Browser
- Per Game Graphics Options
- Per Game Audio Options
- M&K Support for Xbox
- PC Fileshare
- Double Keybinds for all games
- Viewmodel adjustments for all games
- In game FPS Cap/Adjustments
- Steam Account Linking
- Planned to release together: Crossplay, Input Based MM, and Server Region Selection.
- Planned to release together: Custom Game Browser, Per Game Graphics Options, and M&K Support for Xbox
In addition to the above, we are committed to bringing ODST Campaign & Halo 4 on PC, as well ODST Firefight (with updated networking) to both Xbox and PC in 2020.
MOD SUPPORT
There has not been a lot of communication from us on this and I’ve been asked about this a lot when speaking to people in the Halo The Master Chief Collection community. Our goal is still to support modding, but due to shift in development priorities that tends to happen over the course of a project, modding has continued to get pushed back over the past 6 or so months. The good news here is that we have reached a point where we are now able to spend some cycles to get the conversations, design, and planning going again. I am also now in active iteration on the EULA that lays out the ground rules for modding and player generated content with our legal team.
I understand this will be disappointing news to many of you, but the silver lining here is the EULA is in late stages. Once it is ready, we will re-assess what we can accomplish in the short, mid, and long-term timelines. Modding is close to my heart so I hope to be able to ramp this effort up more soon.
QUALITY OF LIFE IMPROVEMENTS
As we move forward with features, it is also important that we continue to support bugs and quality of life improvements for Halo The Master Chief Collection. Aside from our normal bug fixing efforts, we have a team that will be solely dedicated to bug fixing spinning up in August. This will include areas like:
- Performance improvements for all games on both PC & Xbox
- Improved Uncapped framerate (looking at you Reach & H2A)
- Community requested bugs
- UI/UX Improvements around navigation, roster, customization, and many more areas of the game
- Achievement issues