Halo studio 343 Industries is "listening to PC fans" but won't be releasing games for them any time soon

Halo: Combat Evolved was released for the PC in 2003, and Halo 2 followed along in 2007.

Halo: Combat Evolved was released for the PC in 2003, and Halo 2 followed along in 2007. But all we've had since then has been the recent Halo: Spartan Assault, which I don't think really counts because it was also released for the Windows Phone. And if you're thinking that this is where I say all that is about to change, I have some bad news: It's not.

Halo 5: Guardians is slated for release next year as an Xbox One exclusive and I don't think anyone would reasonably expect it to come to the PC anytime soon. But what about Halo: The Master Chief Collection, a remastered bundle of the first four Halo shooters, half of which are already on PC anyway?

"Right now we are focused on Xbox One," 343 Industries General Manager Bonnie Ross told Eurogamer. That's not the most specific platform exclusion ever, but she went on to make it clear that the existence of the first two Halo games on the PC isn't particularly relevant to what's happening right now.

"We've been on PC before, and Dan [Ayoub, 343 Industries Executive Producer] has had games like Halo: Spartan Assault on there," she said. "We're listening to the PC fans, but right now this is all focused on Xbox One."

I expect it to stay that, too. Windows is a Microsoft product but it has very clearly put all its gaming eggs into the Xbox basket, so it's naturally going to want to maintain exclusivity for one of the few sure-fire system-sellers in its stable. The way I see it, 343 Industries is listening to us kind of like how I listen to my dad: I recognize that he is speaking, but it has no bearing on what I actually end up doing.