Summary
A new report from a credible insider alleges that Microsoft may be working on aHalo: Combat Evolvedremaster which could make its way to PlayStation 5. The company shifted gears on its exclusivity strategy for Xbox earlier this year, porting four back-catalog first-party titles to PlayStation and Nintendo platforms. Although Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer assured fans that the initial batch won’t “open the floodgates” for other games, speculation has run rampant around which games could go multiplatform next, and it appearsHalo: Combat Evolved– the kickstarter of the Xbox brand – is one of them.
AfterGrounded,Hi-Fi Rush, andPentiment,Sea of Thieveswas the last of the initial batch of “experimental” multiplatform releases by Xbox, and the company has seen promising signs with them. In fact, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella remarked during the company’s last earnings call that it had seven games in the PlayStation Store’s top 25. While all four games have performed well to some degree,Sea of Thieveshas been the biggest success on PS5, ranking high on the sales charts consistently.
It’s no surprise, then, that the positive sales results of the four games will likely lead to more multiplatform games from Xbox, with the rumoredDoom: The Dark Agesreportedly launching on PS5 day one. While it’s plausible thatDoom’s status as a legacy IP may warrant a multiplatform release, it appears Microsoft could be looking at tentpole first-party franchises likeHalofor its future multiplatform efforts. As per a new report from reputable industry insiderTom Warren writing for The Verge, Microsoft is in the early stages of developing aHalo: Combat Evolvedremaster, and is considering a PS5 release for it.
Xbox Apparently Has More Multiplatform Ports in the Works
Warren does note that it’s “early days” for the remaster, and that its planned platforms are undecided at this point. The insider also commented on Xbox’s internal “Project Latitude” porting program, stating that first-party titles likeStarfield,Age of Mythology: Retold,Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition,Doom: The Dark Ages, andSenua’s Saga: Hellblade 2are under consideration for PS5and other rival platforms. However, Warren mentions that Xbox’s upcoming Games Showcase in June will “largely focus” on the company’s exclusive games, and likely won’t acknowledge the multiplatform push.
Beyond the potential landmark moment in the games industry where aHalotitle could be natively sold on PlayStation, the existence of aHalo: Combat Evolvedremaster itself is puzzling. The title was entirely remade in 2011 for its tenth anniversary and is perfectly playable on current-gen hardware, and even hasXbox Series X upgrades as part of theMaster Chief Collection. Therefore, it’s difficult to ascertain how a remaster would improve upon that, but if it does ultimately end up on PS5, the occasion would be nothing short of monumental.
