Halo Infinite may not be arriving until later in 2021, but the Master Chief Collection has given the franchise fresh legs following its piecemeal rollout on PC.
In a new end of year update from 343 Industries, the developer revealed that the series is now more popular than ever.
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Halo: The Master Chief Collection PC Launches Bring In "Largest Addition of New Players" Since Halo 3
Discussing the challenging year that was 2020, Bonnie Ross, Studio Head, notes that "during this time, we launched FIVE games as part of Halo: The Master Chief Collection on PC, leading to the largest addition of new players to the franchise since Halo 3".
Considering Halo 3 launched in 2007, that's a big deal.
Interestingly, Ross notes that "there's more MCC content coming next year!", presumably referring to more seasonal content – although maybe they'll sneak Halo 5 into the PC version (it's currently only available on Xbox One).
Halo: The Master Chief Collection launched in 2014, just a year after the Xbox One, and while its collection of single-player campaigns led to praise, its multiplayer was borderline unplayable across Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2: Anniversary, Halo 3 and Halo 4.
Still, the team worked out the issues while also releasing Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Reach, before porting the whole lot to PC piece by piece.
Considering where it began, it's been a remarkable turnaround. Here's hoping for a similarly impressive turnaround for Halo Infinite.
The game was delayed from the Series S/X launch to make changes following a disappointing reveal earlier this year.