With Halo: The Master Chief Collection on PC getting Halo 4 in November, “major” updates for MCC is now slowing down. 343 Industries is focusing on fixing some bugs before the end of the year and are working full steam ahead to “tee up” Halo: MCC Season 5 for January and Season 6 later next year. The November MCC update over on Halo Waypoint is smaller than previous ones, but there is still some stuff to look forward to next year.
First of all, as a quick recap, Halo 4 and Season 4‘s launch added six new features into the game: multiplayer cross-play, upgraded Halo 4 Forge, Xbox Series X enhancements, region selection for matchmaking, video settings for each game, and input-based (controller or mouse-keyboard filter) matchmaking. Double Medal XP event will also be running from December 8 to January 4.
Updates That Will Arrive With Halo: MCC Season 5
Regarding MCC Season 5 contents or improvements though, much of them are still up in the air. However, the MCC team has promised that Reach‘s unreleased armor, particularly the AKIS and Mariner variants, should be coming in Season 5. The Reach beta armor was supposed to come with Season 4, but due to “complexities” regarding old assets and tools, the armors did not meet the team’s standards for the Halo 4 PC launch. More rewards for playing ranked playlists are planned as well.
Aside from that, a handful of features and quality of life updates are planned for 2021. These include Steam account linking, PC file sharing, double key binds, per game audio options, PC features on console, and the custom game browser. For the custom game browser, the MCC team is hoping they can run a flight/beta test “before the end of the year”. Fingers crossed.
Lastly when asked about four-player co-op campaign for Halo CE and 2, the team “absolutely love” the idea but it doesn’t seem likely to happen. Both game’s co-op network code is said to be “very much hard-coded” for two-players play and they would need to crack open the whole game to allow for more players. Not to mention load time issues, content changes like the Warthog in the ‘Assault on the Control Room’ level that only sits three people, and ammo balances. Halo community manager Postums said that they won’t be surprised if in the future the modding community could implement such huge changes, though. Not a far-fetched idea since a four-player campaign mod for the original Halo: CE on Xbox does exist.
Other additional features not coming with MCC Season 5 such as additional mod support, accessibility options, and PC HDR are still in the design iteration phase. Meanwhile PC split-screen is in the backlog. That’s all we have for now. I hope PC split-screen gets implemented one day, but what are your hopes for Season 5? Let me know in the comments below.