Halo: The Master Chief Collection

While we were busy sharing news at E3, including details on pricing, we also gave the MCC cover art a fresh coat of paint. The background needed a touch up to include Halo 3: ODST and we definitely needed to account for Halo: Reach's upcoming addition. After that we decided to make Master Chief's helmet green and the MCC logo gold, because who doesn't love gold?

We were all about showing not just telling too, and we couldn't wait to hit the show floor to let people play Halo: Reach on PC for the first time.

E3 2019

As ske7ch wrote before our week-long LA adventure would begin, we had a small setup with four stations that would be able to support a campaign demo of Halo: Reach running on PC. We were expecting a modest line for this, as it was just an early work-in-progress demo, but fans showed up en masse to shatter our expectations and created a line so big that it caused problems for the rest of the Xbox Experience. Who would've thought that people wanted Halo on PC?

Those that endured the line and played the demo were given an MCC poster (with the updated design), this clean Noble Team pin, and could even win a Halo: Reach mousepad (which you can now get online).

For those of you who weren't able to join us in-person at E3, be sure to sign up for Halo Insider as we will have a small public flight with this demo next week or swing by a Halo: Outpost Discovery location this summer, as they will also include opportunities to check out work-in-progress builds of Halo: Reach.

PC Flighting

If everything goes according to plan, our first flight for Halo: Reach on MCC PC will be next week to a small subsection of registered Halo Insiders. We're starting more modestly because we've got quite a few levers to pull and we want to ensure our delivery pipeline runs smoothly, our communications are clear, and that participants can properly provide their feedback on the build. Since there are so many pieces and levers that need testing, verification, and appropriate approvals, we need to take our time to ensure we're sending out a quality flight to our Halo Insiders. The team has a build which appears to be a strong candidate, but it's still in the middle of going through the test process as I type (and as you read). That said, we're still targeting to release next week and will be sharing the details with the public, so even if you aren't selected for the flight, you'll know what's happening. Stay tuned for more details throughout!

MCC Updates

Since our last blog, our Publishing Team has released multiple playlist updates to matchmaking as well as one addressing numerous community-reported bugs. Postums shares the details in the MCC Forum when they drop, so just give it a look if you want to know what's changed recently.

To point out a few highly-requested quality of life improvements our team addressed on June 11, here's a quick list of the patch notes:

Halo: CE

Removed auto-aim and red reticule on Rocket Launcher to align with legacy.

Fixed an issue where a user could auto-kick themselves after being betrayed by a guest profile.

Added a toggle to disable betrayal booting in Custom Games.

Added more granular score to win options for Slayer in Custom Games.

Added more granular score to win options for King of the Hill in Custom Games.

Added more granular time limit options for all game types in Custom Games.

Fixed an issue which could result in a crash.

Halo 2

Fixed an issue which made kill trading significantly more common than in legacy.

Adjusted gamma values to better align with legacy.

Halo 3

Added missing Hardcore Construct map variant in Custom Games.

Matchmaking