Halo: The Master Chief Collection: We are Golden
Hey there Halo fans!
It’s been a long, crazy, exciting road, and we’re finally getting close to launch of Halo: The Master Chief Collection in November. I wanted to personally share some big status updates with you. Let’s start with the biggest:
Halo: The Master Chief Collection has gone GOLD!
This is a massive milestone for the team and also means that the game will be available for Pre-Order and Pre-Download later today. I couldn’t be more excited to start having fans grab this game online so everyone can hit the ground running on release day! The team has been working incredibly hard to make this happen, so we’re all eager for you to play this labor of love.
One of the questions we get asked most is about worldwide release plans. The reality of worldwide sales and retail processes always makes simultaneous launches challenging. Some fans expressed disappointment in our original planned release date of November 11 in North America and November 14 in several other territories around the world. We heard you loud and clear, and I am happy to announce that Halo: The Master Chief Collection will be released on November 11 for the majority of our fans around world!
There are still a few countries that will see a slight delay due to public holidays. In Europe, Belgium will release on November 12 and France will release on November 14 as part of their typical Friday release schedule. Our fans in Japan will see a release of November 13. Given the social aspects of the experience, we were really happy to get it as close to a simultaneous worldwide release as possible so that we can all celebrate on November 11 and start playing together.
This is literally going to be the biggest Halo experience so far
That is to say, the sheer size and scope of the content. To recap, Halo: The Master Chief Collection contains four complete Halo games, every multiplayer map ever released (including DLC from console and PC) across each game, a complete remaster of Halo 2with all-new audio and Blur’s mind-blowing cinematics, and all of this is tied together with (and enhanced by) a revolutionary user interface.
From the start, our philosophy has been to give Halo fans the best possible experience and not compromise the quality or features of the collection. The result is that Halo: The Master Chief Collection will take up almost all of the usable space of a single Blu-ray (45 GB), and we will also issue a content update at launch that is estimated to be 20 GB. You’ll be able to start playing Campaign and more as the content is installing, with some features and multiplayer content being added via the update. Yes, the update is large, but we weren’t about to cut corners to save disc space. This ensures that you are getting every bit of Halo goodness we can fit in. Our work is not done, however, as we continue to tune, tweak and optimize the online experience to ensure a smooth multiplayer launch. This will continue right up until launch day.
One caveat we wanted to share is that Spartan Ops, our episodic co-op experience fromHalo 4, will now release in December. In the meantime, we’re making some technical enhancements to that experience to make sure it’s smoother and even better than before. All ten episodes will be available at the same time, so we’re working to make an event out of it with our Community teams.
26 more sleeps!
Lastly, I’d like to extend my heartfelt thanks to you, our fans. Development of a game is always hard, but Halo: The Master Chief Collection has been the most challenging of my career. No team has really attempted a project like this, and the number of moving pieces has been staggering. The development team at 343 Industries has been working hard alongside our partners to make this happen and, at every step, you have been there for us. Whether it’s with encouraging words at events, or via messages on Twitter, I can tell you that your feedback is crucial and fuels our drive to make Halo: The Master Chief Collection the best it can be.
I’d like to thank you all for your continued enthusiasm, excitement and support for this game. See you on Xbox Live!
-Dan
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