Latest Halo: MCC development update talks ray tracing, skins, crossplay, and more

Halo: The Master Chief Collection continues to update and improve its features for those who enjoy classic Halo experiences. Developer 343 Industries’ commitment to improving the collection nearly six years after its initial launch certainly feels a bit late, but the changes also coincide with the PC ports of the various titles. In that retrospect, the updates aren’t nearly as late, and we might even say the development schedule isn’t that bad compared to the countless delays of other games this year.

The latest development update talks about a lot of exciting features coming to Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Fans will remember some of the features from the original games like the file share system and customizable armor pieces. Old-school Halo fans might recall the custom game browser and mod support from the Halo CE: Custom Edition that released in 2004. That was during a time when mods and custom matches were all the rage in gaming. It’s good to see MCC honoring its roots. Unfortunately, these features are still in development, but the team is hard at work with testing and integration.

We can look forward to some more immediate content though such as the long-awaited cross-play support, input-based matchmaking, and regional server selection features. These will all arrive alongside the release of Halo 4, which is currently in flight testing and likely to arrive within a month’s time. These are particularly great for the game as cross-play will finally merge player populations, while input-based matchmaking will separate controller and mouse and keyboard players (if desired, per player preference) to facilitate gameplay balance.

It’s good to have options

Speaking of Halo 4, we learned a few things about its re-release. Halo 4 will feature expanded graphics options that allow players to enhance the game visually in more ways than ever before. Players will also be able to customize individual armor pieces preview them in the menus. 343 also confirmed that all of the DLC cosmetic items will be included with Halo 4 when it joins MCC.

As of now, Halo 4 should be the final game to arrive in the collection, but 343 will shift its attention to adding more features and fixes once the port is complete. We already mentioned a few of 343’s plans in this post, but it seems the team is feeling ambitious. We also learned that ray tracing is up for consideration with the entire collection. That would be incredible, as we already saw the results of ray tracing for older games like Quake 2. Hopefully they can pull it off.

The quest for cosmetics continues

We’ll close with details about more cosmetics coming to Halo: The Master Chief Collection in future updates. While Halo 4 and Halo 3 will see some more cosmetic love, Halo 2 is apparently not that lucky. 343 backtracked on its plans to add a season themed around Halo 2 content. It likely boils down to trouble with implementation. Halo 2 is often described as a beast in terms of code. However, with everything Halo these days, that plan could change.

Season 4 content is likely pushed back too. The past few additions to MCC have coincided with more cosmetics, but 343 seems behind schedule with Halo 4. We will likely see all of the Halo 4 cosmetics arrive with the full game. We’ll have to wait on the Halo 3 and Halo Reach additions though.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection seems to be the poster child of the franchise these days with the uncertain future of Halo Infinite. At least 343 can guarantee a solid, classic experience. You can read the full blog post on Halo Waypoint.