Again and again, developer 343 Industries continue to insist that the cross-platform play feature will be implemented for Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Originally, the firm told way back in July that the firm is planning to include the setting by the end of this year. While exciting, many fans are hesitant for the day to arrive with plenty that still needs to come to the complete Halo anthology before bridging differing systems supporting the game.
However, the studio did reiterate on the matters. Later on in October the previous month, the developer did press that the mode is still planned for 2020. But, 343 Industries did denounce any hope for 2015’s Halo 5: Guardians to be included in Halo: The Master Chief Collection. While unfortunate for some, many are ecstatic to hear more of cross-play after the initial promise.
Now in the latest Halo Waypoint MCC Development Update, the firm now confirms that the game will be receiving cross-play in the coming week. The feature will ship alongside the addition of Halo 4 to the PC version of Halo: The Master Chief Collection.
Crossplay will be available for multiplayer games when the update rolls out with Halo 4’s launch. This means players will be able to invite friends from PC to play in Xbox parties and vice versa. As well, when playing multiplayer, you will be able to play with a mix of players on any platform that supports MCC.
This means that Crossplay is supported in multiplayer (including social matchmaking, competitive matchmaking, and custom games), Firefight (including matchmaking and custom games), and Forge. Crossplay is not supported in Campaign (including Campaign Playlists) and Spartan Ops. These areas where it is not supported are due to the complexities required of updating netcode and issues our test teams found which we would need to resolve in order to get it up to par with what players would expect.
Tyler Prince, 343 Industries Community Support & Engagement Coordinator
And yes, you read that correctly – there is not full implementation of cross-play for Halo: The Master Chief Collection. While readied for most traditional multiplayer modes, the same cannot be said for the story campaigns and Spartan Ops. While the firm has prepped most of the anthology for cross-play, extra work is needed for other that sector and would not be at the same quality as matchmaking if shipped the same time.
In addition to 343 Industries’ inaugural Halo title debuting for PC, the entire collection is receiving a next-gen overhaul the same day. Players can find an increased framerate targeting 120 frames per second alongside 4K resolution as well. You can read the full report by heading here.
Are you hopping into Halo: The Master Chief Collection when cross-play drops?
Halo: The Master Chief Collection is out now for Xbox One and PC.
Source: Halo Waypoint
