Microsoft is seemingly ready to launch its flagship Xbox video game series Halo on rival platforms for the first time, including PlayStation and Nintendo Switch 2.
Leaker NateTheHate, who this week reported that Nintendo is set to reveal Switch 2 on January 16, also reported in a separate podcast that Microsoft will finally bring Halo to PlayStation in the form of a PlayStation 5 port of Halo: The Master Chief Collection, as well as a release on Switch 2. Windows Central’s Jez Corden subsequently corroborated the report.
Microsoft declined to comment when contacted by IGN.
While Microsoft’s multiplatform video game strategy is well-documented at this stage, Halo was seen as the final frontier. However, perhaps the famous first-person shooter’s flight from Xbox shouldn’t come as a surprise.
Last year, Microsoft’s gaming chief Phil Spencer said there were no “red lines” in its first-party lineup when it comes to going multiplatform — and that included Halo. Speaking to Bloomberg, Spencer said every Xbox game is up for grabs when it comes to making the multiplatform jump. “I do not see sort of red lines in our portfolio that say ‘thou must not,’” he said.
Microsoft has so-far used older games released over a year ago for its multiplatform push as opposed to brand new games, but that will soon change with Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, which comes out on PS5 just a few months after it launched on Xbox and PC.
Indiana Jones is the latest first-party Xbox game to make the jump to a rival console, and follows the multiplatform release of Obsidian’s Pentiment and Grounded, Tango Gameworks’ Hi-Fi Rush, and Rare’s Sea of Thieves earlier in 2024. In June, Microsoft announced Id Software’s upcoming Doom: The Dark Ages will also launch on PS5 this year.
Spencer has said Xbox’s multiplatform push is in part about bringing in more money to Microsoft’s gaming business — with the pressure now on to deliver following its eye-watering $69 billion acquisition of Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard.
“We run a business,” Spencer said in August. “It’s definitely true inside of Microsoft the bar is high for us in terms of the delivery we have to give back to the company. Because we get a level of support from the company that’s just amazing and what we’re able to go do.
“So I look at this, how can we make our games as strong as possible? Our platform continues to grow, on console, on PC, and on cloud. It’s just going to be a strategy that works for us.”
As former Xbox executive Peter Moore told IGN last year, bringing Halo to PlayStation will have been a topic of discussion at Microsoft for some time.
“Look, if Microsoft says, wait, we’re doing $250 million on our own platforms, but if we then took Halo as, let’s call it a third-party, we could do a billion… You got to think long and hard about that, right?” Moore said.
“I mean, you just got to go, yeah, should it be kept? It’s a piece of intellectual property. It’s bigger than just a game. And how do you leverage that? Those are the conversations that always happen with, how do you leverage it in everything that we would do?
“It’s had its ups and downs, but look, Xbox wouldn’t be what Xbox is without Halo. But yeah, I’m sure those conversations are happening. Whether they come to fruition, who knows? But they’re definitely happening, I’m sure.”
Microsoft does face a potential backlash from hardcore Xbox fans who are already disgruntled after what they feel is a devaluing of the Xbox as a console, the lack of exclusives, and Microsoft’s marketing strategy for its gaming business. Losing Halo to PlayStation could spark yet another angry response, but Moore told IGN that won’t deter Microsoft from doing what’s right for its business.
“The question would be, ultimately, is that reaction enough not to make a fundamental business decision for the future of not only Microsoft’s business, but gaming in itself?” Moore said. “Those hardcore are getting smaller in size and older in age. You’ve got to cater to the generations that are coming through, because they’re going to drive the business over the next 10, 20 years.”
Halo isn’t alone in coming to PS5 and Switch 2. NateTheHate reported that Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is also coming to PS5 and Switch 2. Windows Central additionally reported that Gears of War 1 Ultimate Edition, Hellblade 2, and Age of Mythology are coming to PS5 in 2025.
The question now is, does Halo: The Master chief Collection’s release on PS5 and Switch 2 open the door to other Halo games also going multiplatform? Could the next big Halo game launch across all platforms? Last year, tech experts said Halo’s move to Unreal Engine 5 would make it easier for developer Halo Studios, née 343 Industries, to take the game to PS5.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
