Best answer: No, you will not need an Xbox Live Gold subscription in order to play Halo: The Master Chief Collection (MCC) on PC.

Since the MCC on PC will require an Xbox Live account and will be connected with Xbox Live, you might be curious about why you won't need Xbox Live Gold. It's because Microsoft decided that Xbox Live games on non-Xbox platforms won't require a subscription to Xbox Live Gold. This is most likely because every other service on the PC platform doesn't require a paid subscription, so to make PC players pay for Xbox Live titles would have gone over poorly with the PC community.

Xbox Live Gold is Microsoft's premium subscription for its Xbox Live service on Xbox consoles. The main reason you would buy an Xbox Live Gold subscription is that it gives players the ability to play games online in multiplayer modes. There are some other perks too. For example, you get a set of free games each month with Games With Gold if you're a member, and you frequently get discounts on games sold through the Microsoft Store.

Halo: MCC is a large collection of nearly all of the Halo shooter games that came before Halo 5: Guardians, recapping the entirety of the Master Chief's adventures during the latter stages of the Human-Covenant War. These games were what put and, arguably, have kept Xbox on the map, so they are absolutely worth playing.

Based on what we know so far, each game in the PC version of Halo: MCC is going to be launched one at a time in order to ensure stability on the new hardware. It's important to note that Halo: Reach will be added to both the PC and Xbox One versions of the MCC, and Reach will also be the first game that comes out on PC.

The MCC on PC is still quite a ways off, but you should definitely pick it up when it goes on sale on the Microsoft Store and Steam. Additionally, it's available right now for Xbox One, so if you prefer consoles or just can't wait to play, you can get into the action right away.