Has Microsoft ever stated why they won't bring the Halo franchise to PC?

Stg-Flame

Diamond Member
Mar 10, 2007
3,546
499
126
I know we have Halo 2 and Halo Wars: DE, but has anything official ever been announced? I know they wanted to keep their IP exclusive to their new console for higher sales, but considering how long it's been, they could stand to make a lot of money if they moved the franchise over to PC. It's obvious if they moved Halo 2 and 3 to the PC, it could have been devastating to the XBox and 360 sales, but Halo is no longer their flagship and the XOne/Scorpio will survive just because people will buy the new consoles for the sake of them being the new consoles.
 

sweenish

Diamond Member
May 21, 2013
3,656
60
91
You have Halo: CE, Halo 2, Halo Wars, and Halo Wars 2.

And all future Halo games from this point on.

And Halo is still their flagship, it's just been mishandled by 343.
 

Stg-Flame

Diamond Member
Mar 10, 2007
3,546
499
126
I thought all the Halo games for PC were just multiplayer. We used to play Halo CE back in java scripting class in high school when we would get a substitute teacher and I remember vividly the single player option was greyed out. Guess I never looked into it further.

Still, it shouldn't be that difficult to give us a Halo Complete/Gold/Pack/etc edition. I'm sure they could update the graphics, charge full price, and make an absolute killing with any of the Halo (FPS) games.
 
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JujuFish

Lifer
Feb 3, 2005
11,033
752
136
I got Halo CE with a graphics card I bought years ago. If the rest of the series is like that one, PC gamers aren't missing much.
 

cmdrdredd

Lifer
Dec 12, 2001
27,052
357
126
I got Halo CE with a graphics card I bought years ago. If the rest of the series is like that one, PC gamers aren't missing much.

When it launched in 2001 it was an amazing experience and had real lore in it. It just didn't age well, especially not if you are talking about graphically vs PC games.

You have Halo: CE, Halo 2, Halo Wars, and Halo Wars 2.

And all future Halo games from this point on.

And Halo is still their flagship, it's just been mishandled by 343.

Which is something I don't understand really. The whole reason I bought an Xbox One at launch was because I wanted Halo and Forza, they gave them away to Windows and I don't have an xbox any more and therefore will not be buying any xbox games or subscribing to Xbox Live. I'm sure my case isn't unique either. There has got to be many other people who are just going to play the first party games on their PC. After all, what sells consoles are exclusives and Xbox doesn't have any good ones left.
 

Stg-Flame

Diamond Member
Mar 10, 2007
3,546
499
126
I still love playing Halo CE on my XBox and I'd love it even more if I could use a mouse and keyboard instead of a controller. I can't count the hours I spent trying to reach the bottom of pits or get outside the map or just trying to see how long my brother and I could co-op until one of us punched the other in the back which devolved the entire game into a PvP match. Then again, those times are long gone and I only play it through once or twice every few years. If it was available on Steam, I would be able to play it more often as it wouldn't be as difficult as digging the game out and hoping my XBox works.
 

clok1966

Golden Member
Jul 6, 2004
1,395
13
76
I will get crucified, but on the PC compared to the massive amount of FPS its a pretty average game, it was one of the best FPS (design) for a console and gamepad, when it came out, head and shoulders played better then all the PC ports at the time. But when you look at levels, etc.. its pretty bland compared to many of the FPS out (at the time) on the PC. Cartoon stooge like enemies mixed with decent SCI FI enemies, is it supposed to be funny or realistic? Extreme repeating of inside artwork/levels. Very Few actual enemies. OK story (ripped from some great Sci Fi novels, but thats pretty par for the course on almost any game). If HALO did anything good (it must have it sold well) it did one thing very bad, it destroyed the first person shooter "skill" side with regen health, hide shoot, hide shoot, hide shoot and you can pretty much finish the game with almost no real worry about dying except in a few enclosed area's. The idea of getting away from heal boxes just sitting around was noble (and a new idea was needed), but (opinion only) it has dumbed down the FPS after with what ends up being unlimited health. But what do i know, HALO sells well (you gotta admit a couple of the HALO games are pretty poor even if you love HALO series, ODST and the original are not as good as most the rest) bu they still sold a bunch. Which brings me to the point, On the PC HALO was horrible (played poor, on current PC when it came out) which left a bit of a bad taste in PC players mouth. Halo sells well on consoles, even when a PC game sells well, it doesn't sell as much as a CONSOLE game, more poor ports would sully the name even more. And even i they sold well it would put little money in the MS wallet. Just not a win/win for MS, one poor port could damage a brand they depend on to sell consoles, and face it the BONE is the also ran this gen, they don't need more bad news.
 

XSoldier77X

Member
May 23, 2017
113
9
81
Still, it shouldn't be that difficult to give us a Halo Complete/Gold/Pack/etc edition. I'm sure they could update the graphics, charge full price, and make an absolute killing with any of the Halo (FPS) games.
Agreed. Maybe porting MasterChief collection to PC at a full price might work,
 

sweenish

Diamond Member
May 21, 2013
3,656
60
91
Which is something I don't understand really. The whole reason I bought an Xbox One at launch was because I wanted Halo and Forza, they gave them away to Windows and I don't have an xbox any more and therefore will not be buying any xbox games or subscribing to Xbox Live. I'm sure my case isn't unique either. There has got to be many other people who are just going to play the first party games on their PC. After all, what sells consoles are exclusives and Xbox doesn't have any good ones left.

The number of people that will play these exclusively on PC (or on PC at all) is practically insignificant.
 
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cmdrdredd

Lifer
Dec 12, 2001
27,052
357
126
The number of people that will play these exclusively on PC (or on PC at all) is practically insignificant.

I doubt that. Even very basic laptops can play these at decent levels of quality. We've all seen the numbers, the Xbox is not making ground on the PS4 so why give any exclusives away at all? It's good for business but terrible for their brand.
 
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futurefields

Diamond Member
Jun 2, 2012
6,471
32
91
I'd dig the modern Halo games on PC. But they'd be Windows 10 apps only and not on Steam. So I'd have to upgrade and I still like my Windows 7 machine.
 

sweenish

Diamond Member
May 21, 2013
3,656
60
91
I doubt that. Even very basic laptops can play these at decent levels of quality. We've all seen the numbers, the Xbox is not making ground on the PS4 so why give any exclusives away at all? It's good for business but terrible for their brand.
"These" being the already available, decade old games and graphically lightweight RTS's, sure.

I'm not talking about those. I'm pretty Halo 6 won't run on a basic laptop.

And how are they giving exclusives away? Needs a Windows 10 PC, and buyable only through their own storefront. Sounds pretty exclusive to me.
 
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XSoldier77X

Member
May 23, 2017
113
9
81
And how are they giving exclusives away? Needs a Windows 10 PC, and buyable only through their own storefront. Sounds pretty exclusive to me.

Hence " It's good for business but terrible for their brand." Most of the guys have a PC and one year of free upgrade has brought most of the, to Windows 10, so while they're still making money out of Windows 10 and the compatible games, I cab't see how it's not going to affect Xbox One as a brand
 
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cmdrdredd

Lifer
Dec 12, 2001
27,052
357
126
"These" being the already available, decade old games and graphically lightweight RTS's, sure.

I'm not talking about those. I'm pretty Halo 6 won't run on a basic laptop.

And how are they giving exclusives away? Needs a Windows 10 PC, and buyable only through their own storefront. Sounds pretty exclusive to me.

Being on windows and Xbox makes it not an exclusive at all. You don't need to buy an Xbox to have it.

Halo 6 will run on some pretty low end hardware when it launches. It has to because the Xbox one is pretty low end hardware to begin with.
 

Oyeve

Lifer
Oct 18, 1999
21,940
838
126
Wasn't Halo originally a PC game? I remember getting a demo of it long ago then it was pulled and about a year later came out on xbox.
 

[DHT]Osiris

Lifer
Dec 15, 2015
14,622
12,754
146
I will get crucified, but on the PC compared to the massive amount of FPS its a pretty average game, it was one of the best FPS (design) for a console and gamepad, when it came out, head and shoulders played better then all the PC ports at the time. But when you look at levels, etc.. its pretty bland compared to many of the FPS out (at the time) on the PC. Cartoon stooge like enemies mixed with decent SCI FI enemies, is it supposed to be funny or realistic? Extreme repeating of inside artwork/levels. Very Few actual enemies. OK story (ripped from some great Sci Fi novels, but thats pretty par for the course on almost any game). If HALO did anything good (it must have it sold well) it did one thing very bad, it destroyed the first person shooter "skill" side with regen health, hide shoot, hide shoot, hide shoot and you can pretty much finish the game with almost no real worry about dying except in a few enclosed area's. The idea of getting away from heal boxes just sitting around was noble (and a new idea was needed), but (opinion only) it has dumbed down the FPS after with what ends up being unlimited health. But what do i know, HALO sells well (you gotta admit a couple of the HALO games are pretty poor even if you love HALO series, ODST and the original are not as good as most the rest) bu they still sold a bunch. Which brings me to the point, On the PC HALO was horrible (played poor, on current PC when it came out) which left a bit of a bad taste in PC players mouth. Halo sells well on consoles, even when a PC game sells well, it doesn't sell as much as a CONSOLE game, more poor ports would sully the name even more. And even i they sold well it would put little money in the MS wallet. Just not a win/win for MS, one poor port could damage a brand they depend on to sell consoles, and face it the BONE is the also ran this gen, they don't need more bad news.

Don't pull back, you're completely right. Overall the Halo games were very average, they were just amazing on consoles since the best that they had until then were weakshit castoffs from the PC (Doom, Quake, Turok I guess?)

I got hold of Halo 1 on PC at some point around when it released, and it wasn't complete garbage, it just wasn't that good. I played more Q2 *after* Halo was released than I did Halo.

In addition to the above, I don't think Microsoft wanted to go down the road of cross-platform multiplayer (after it failed so spectacularly in Halo 1 beta), as well as cannibalizing their own sales and pulling away from XBox sales (as Halo had(has?) always been their flagship).
 

Yakk

Golden Member
May 28, 2016
1,574
275
81
Halo Wars 1 was backported to PC, and the new Halo Wars 2 is on PC.

My personal favourite of the franchise is still Halo ODST.
 

DaveSimmons

Elite Member
Aug 12, 2001
40,730
670
126
The reason was to sell xboxen. The reason for porting some versions to PC was to force gamers to move to a newer Windows, since they were tied to the latest OS.

MS has now decided that software sales are more important than device sales, so future Halos will probably all appear on Windows 10. That still ties into forcing people to give up Windows 7, and also is to get people to use the Windows Store.
 

cmdrdredd

Lifer
Dec 12, 2001
27,052
357
126
Wasn't Halo originally a PC game? I remember getting a demo of it long ago then it was pulled and about a year later came out on xbox.

Originally it was conceptualized as a Mac OS exclusive persistent world 3rd person action/shooter. Microsoft bought Bungie and they reshaped it into an FPS to launch with the original Xbox. You can see the original videos from the MacWorld reveal in 1997/1998.
 

Oyeve

Lifer
Oct 18, 1999
21,940
838
126
Originally it was conceptualized as a Mac OS exclusive persistent world 3rd person action/shooter. Microsoft bought Bungie and they reshaped it into an FPS to launch with the original Xbox. You can see the original videos from the MacWorld reveal in 1997/1998.
Yeah, thats around the time I had the playable preview.
 

runzwithsizorz

Diamond Member
Jan 24, 2002
3,500
14
76
I'd dig the modern Halo games on PC. But they'd be Windows 10 apps only and not on Steam. So I'd have to upgrade and I still like my Windows 7 machine.
Me too. I liked the original Halo when it first came out for PC, but when Micro made it an Xbox exclusive, I found other games to play. Don't care about the franchise anymore. Sony did the same to Draken if anyone remembers that game.
 

cmdrdredd

Lifer
Dec 12, 2001
27,052
357
126
I still like the lore etc but with each new game the whole package goes downhill a bit more.
 

sweenish

Diamond Member
May 21, 2013
3,656
60
91
The reason was to sell xboxen. The reason for porting some versions to PC was to force gamers to move to a newer Windows, since they were tied to the latest OS.

MS has now decided that software sales are more important than device sales, so future Halos will probably all appear on Windows 10. That still ties into forcing people to give up Windows 7, and also is to get people to use the Windows Store.
There is no "probably." Microsoft will make all first-party published titles Play Anywhere.
http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/07/04/all-microsoft-published-games-will-now-be-xbox-play-anywhere
This was announced nearly a year ago. You don't even have to click the link, it's all in the URL.

ANY GAME will run on low end hardware. That's an extremely poor argument. Given what it takes for Forza to maintain 60 fps, and the reqs for Quantum Break, I'd say that my assumption is a lot more grounded.

And again, the amount of console gamers that will switch to being a PC gamer for Halo is LOW. This board is not an accurate sampling of the millions of Xbox One owners.

As far as exclusivity goes, I think that's just boiling down to a difference of definition. Wherever you buy it, it will be on a Microsoft platform. And that's been the WHOLE POINT of Windows 10 and the Xbox One updates for years, the idea that they are in fact the same platform. The Xbox One is basically like a Steambox at this point.
 
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