343 Industries has confirmed that Halo 3 is coming to PC on July 14 as part of an update to the Master Chief Collection.
“Halo 3 comes to PC as the next installment in Halo: The Master Chief Collection,” reads an update posted to the Master Chief Collection on the Xbox website. “Now optimized for PC, witness the Master Chief’s return to finish the fight between the Covenant, the Flood, and the entire Human race in this dramatic, pulse-pounding conclusion of the original Halo trilogy.”
We haven’t heard any specifics regarding whether the PC version of Halo 3 will feature any significant alterations, but if recent PC ports of the Master Chief Collection games are any indication, it shouldn’t feature too much new content beyond a few technical upgrades, the obvious need to accommodate PC control options, and certain other options exclusive to that platform.
Just as it was with previous Master Chief Collection PC updates, though, the real story here is that you’ll soon be able to play another piece of the Halo franchise on PC. The Halo series history with the PC platform prior to the release of the Master Chief Collection has been…uneven, at best. Halo: CE and Halo 2 were technically available for PC, but they never really received the support their console counterparts enjoyed and were often seen as more of a novelty. Thus far, the PC ports of the Halo franchise included in the Master Chief Collection have been much more substantial.
You could certainly argue that Halo 3 is the most anticipated addition to the PC Master Chief Collection. Not only was Halo 3 not initially released for PC, but there are still many who consider Halo 3‘s multiplayer to be the best in franchise history. While Halo CE and Halo 2‘s multiplayer sometime require you to throw on your rose-tinted glasses, franchise fans have long argued that Halo 3‘s multiplayer offered a special kind of experience that no other game before or since has really matched.
Granted, nostalgia will always be a factor when you’re talking about a 13-year-old game, but we’d guess that Halo 3 for PC may be able to attract and retain more multiplayer fans than previous releases have. We also suspect that the timing of this release isn’t entirely coincidental as the upcoming Xbox Series X games showcase on July 23 is expected to heavily feature Halo Infinite. What better time to re-release arguably the best Halo game ever than when Halo is fresh on everyone’s minds?