I know Xbox is currently amid the biggest restructuring in its history, and yes, it all sucks, even if it's probably a necessary change for the company's future. Instead, though, I want to take you back to days gone by, when the infamous Don Mattrick was at the helm.

By all accounts, Mattrick inherited a golden goose in the Xbox 360, only to smash it into a million pieces with the disastrous reveal of the Xbox One. That moment all but erased the goodwill Xbox had built throughout the Xbox 360 era, effectively handed the entire console generation to PlayStation, and created problems the brand is arguably still dealing with today.

Over on BlueSky, former Halo 4 developer Don Callan spoke out about a meeting that was held between 343 Industries at the time and Don Mattrick. Callan recalls it as follows:

“I have very distinct memories of having to demo Halo 4 for Don Mattrick and realizing that these people just live on different planes of reality... I was showing off my mission and when the Mantis showed up... he raised his hand and said to the group, 'Has anyone here played... Diablo 3?'... He then went on to suggest we should copy their idea of a real money auction house for campaign mech skins…”

Callan went on to explain that while everyone around Mattrick outwardly reacted as though it was a brilliant idea, they privately thought it was beyond stupid, especially considering Halo 4 was already around 90% complete. He ultimately summed up his experience by saying, "game execs remain stupid detached money grubbing idiots."

I must admit, as much as I dislike Halo 4 and its gameplay loop (don't worry, I enjoyed the campaign), this really would have been a baffling decision, and one I'm glad never became reality. It's also worth remembering that Diablo 3's real-money auction house was widely criticized at launch and was eventually removed from the game.

Hopefully, Xbox's new leadership has more sense than whatever Mattrick was thinking at the time. With the company still in the middle of a major restructuring, tensions are understandably high both inside Xbox and among fans watching from the outside. But let me know your thoughts. Would Halo 4 have been even worse with a real-money auction house? Leave a comment below and be sure to take part in our poll below:

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Halo Studios is back with another community Q&A on Halo Waypoint, and unlike last time, it's packed with genuinely positive news about Halo: Campaign Evolved. Following recent reports that PlayStation is ending physical releases for new games and our reporting that Xbox's Project Helix won't include a disc drive, it almost feels like physical media has been put on life support. Thankfully, Halo Studios has some welcome news for collectors.

If you pick up a physical copy of Halo: Campaign Evolved on Xbox or PlayStation from a retailer, you'll actually get a game disc in the box. That might sound like a small detail, but in an industry that's increasingly replacing discs with download codes, it's a refreshing commitment to players who still value physical ownership, as dwindling of a fanbase as we are.

Halo Studios have also addressed concerns over the game's AI, as in some previews the enemy AI was awkward to say the least. Luckily, it seems Halo Studios has heard our concerns and clarified: "Over the last few weeks, the development team has been polishing and improving elements of the game, including enemy AI behaviors".

Another nice-to-know is that handhelds are addressed, and Halo: Campaign Evolved apparently is optimized enough for Windows handhelds and Valve's Steam Deck.

Last time Halo Studios published a Community Q&A, I ended up going on quite the rant over some of the features I felt were missing, with Theatre mode sitting right at the top of that list. Unfortunately, we're still not getting a proper Theatre mode, but Halo Studios has announced what is probably the next best thing: Machinima mode.

Machinima mode lets players detach into a free camera, lower their weapon, and even continue controlling their Spartan while using the freecam. Better yet, it's available to everyone from the start and isn't locked behind finding a Skull.

It's not quite the full-featured Theatre mode I'd still love to see make a return, but it's a decent compromise, and one that should make creating Halo videos and screenshots much easier than what we were expecting.

As someone who grew up watching and enjoying Halo machinima, whether it was Red vs. Blue or Arby 'n' the Chief, machinima was once a core part of Halo's identity.

It's nice to see Halo Studios providing some extra clarification ahead of launch, and I'm still incredibly excited to finally get my hands on Halo: Campaign Evolved. I'll certainly be doing my best to 100% the game over the coming months, and hopefully these new details help put some fans' minds at ease.

Whether they do or not, let me know your thoughts in the comments, and as always, be sure to take part in our poll below:

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Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is a fantastic game, and I’ll go one further: that’s an understatement. Now, I’m personally not too heavily invested in the Warhammer universe. Unlike my older brother, I just never really got into it; instead, I was a massive Halo fan.

Now, of course, you can absolutely be both, but my brother often reminds me that Master Chief wouldn’t survive in the Warhammer universe, something I completely refuse to believe. I’m not here to settle that debate, though. Instead, I want to highlight an incredible community-made mod by Skykiller, using Halo Reach Sangheili models gained via Draken Warlord, that lets you experience Space Marine 2 from the perspective of one of Halo's most iconic species.

The mod itself, called Sangheili Campaign, adds Halo Reach Elite models to the Space Marine 2 campaign, complete with modified textures, materials, and visual effects to better fit the game's world. In fact, it goes far beyond a simple character swap, replacing nearly every weapon with Halo Reach equivalents, including the Plasma Pistol, Carbine, Needle Rifle, Plasma Repeater, Plasma Rifle, and plenty more. And yes, before you ask, the Energy Sword is there too.

I’d like to say it’s surprising how well this all fits together, but it really isn’t. As a huge Halo fan, and I’m sure many others feel the same, I’ve long believed the franchise has been underutilized. Feel free to disagree with me, but even a former Bungie employee, Niles Sankey shared similar sentiments.

When Halo Wars launched, I was genuinely excited because it felt like the beginning of Halo expanding beyond first-person shooters. Since then, though, we’ve had very little outside of Halo Wars and Halo: Spartan Assault and Spartan Strike. I even loved the look of the canceled Halo Mega Bloks game, and seeing this mod only makes me wish we'd gotten an official Halo game in a similar vein to Space Marine 2. Sadly, we haven't, and I think that's a real shame.

Still, I’d love to hear what you think. Would you want to see Halo branch out into more genres like this, or do you think it should stick to what it knows best? Let me know in the comments, and be sure to take part in our poll above!

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If you’re at all into the Halo modding scene, you'll have likely seen RejectedShotgun on YouTube. They're well known for pulling off what I can only describe as feats of incredible ingenuity, creating mods that many, myself included, thought were impossible.

Before I dive into the details, it's important to mention that this is for Halo 3 on Halo: The Master Chief Collection, and the mod is accessible via Steam Workshop and isn't available on console.

From mods featuring more than 20 vehicles and brand new weapons to Ultimate Forge, which completely reimagines Halo 3's Forge mode with massive sandbox maps, Scarabs, AI spawning, and countless new tools, RejectedShotgun has consistently pushed the limits of what Halo 3 is capable of. Today, though, I'm highlighting their latest project, Permafrost.

Permafrost, to me, feels like a nod to Halo 5's best and only real contribution to the franchise: Warzone. It was a massive objective-based mode that blended Big Team Battle with AI enemies, bosses, and a progression system that made matches feel like they evolved over time.

Thankfully, this is Halo 3, so there are no microtransactions to get in the way. Designed for up to 16 players, Permafrost focuses on large-scale objective gameplay, with each team fighting alongside AI soldiers. It also introduces what creator RejectedShotgun calls a resource economy.

Teams capture plasma batteries scattered across the map to increase their power level, unlocking progressively stronger weapons, equipment, and vehicles as the match unfolds. Players can even call in weapon drop pods and vehicles, giving battles a constant sense of escalation rather than the static sandbox Halo is traditionally known for.

Probably the biggest highlight, though, is just how dynamic every match feels. This isn't a case of loading into a map where the objectives stay the same until someone wins. Teams can capture a teleporter to gain faster access to enemy territory, destroy the opposing team's spire with a MAC strike, and permanently change the battlefield in the process.

Once a spire falls, defenses disappear, objectives move, and the battle shifts into an entirely new phase. Throw in massive vehicles like the Mega Mantis and Pelican, AI battling across the map, and enough explosions to make Michael Bay blush, and it's honestly hard to believe this is all running inside Halo 3.

Now, I love Halo 3. It's my favorite game in the franchise, and I just wanted to highlight what I think is a pretty impressive mod. So, if it looks like something you'd enjoy, be sure to check it out, and as always, do let me know your thoughts in the comments and be sure to take part in our poll below!

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One of this year's biggest new games for Microsoft and Xbox is Halo: Campaign Evolved — a full-fledged remake of the first game, 2001's Halo: Combat Evolved, that features new gameplay additions, expanded replayability, and an Unreal Engine 5-powered graphical makeover.

It's headed to Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PS5 late next month, with Xbox confirming its long-rumored release date of July 28 during the Xbox Games Showcase. Notably, you can jump in on July 23, five days early, if you purchase the Premium Edition; I imagine that's incentivized many players to preorder, leading to the game climbing the Steam sales chart.

Now that the Halo remake is just over a month away from its full launch, something PC players in particular have been wanting to know is what the game's system requirements and recommended specs are.

Thankfully, they've now been announced by Xbox and developer Halo Studios, and I've included them in the below image and table for your convenience:

All in all, for an Unreal Engine 5 title that's aiming to deliver peak visual fidelity, Halo: Campaign Evolved's CPU, GPU, and VRAM requirements aren't too bad at all. Targeting a 1440p / 4K resolution with 60 FPS and Medium or High settings can be done with hardware that's five to six years old, which is likely what many gaming rigs are equipped with.

The memory and storage requirements, though, are a bit harsher. Demanding 16GB of memory for the lower quality levels at 1080p and 1440p is fine — most players have that much — but the requirement for 32GB if you want to push higher is a little debilitating, especially during the ongoing RAM crisis.

Campaign Evolved requires a steep 100GB of SSD space, too, which is quite a lot for a campaign-only FPS game. You'll need to uninstall a game or two if your gaming hard drive doesn't have triple-digit room available.

Something worth noting is that it's unclear if these requirements were determined with or without performance-enhancing technologies like Super Resolution and Frame Generation factored in. What we do know, though, is that Campaign Evolved supports their use, alongside things like NVIDIA Reflex and other anti-latency tools. These will make taking advantage of the game's uncapped framerate easier.

Ultimately, the 100GB requirement aside? I'd say it sounds like the Halo remake has been optimized fairly well, and should run well on most PCs with optimal settings chosen. I can't say that for sure until the game is out, though.

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It's no secret that Halo has struggled to find success outside of video games, and I'll be the first to admit that, as a massive Halo fan, the Halo TV series from Paramount+ was one of the worst shows I've ever had the displeasure of watching.

Credit where it's due, though. The show occasionally delivered some genuinely impressive action sequences, even if they were often followed moments later by Master Chief removing his helmet for no apparent reason. But I digress.

In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Xbox Chief Content Officer Matt Booty was asked whether Halo could return to television following the cancellation of the Paramount+ series.

"The previous Halo adaptation at Paramount+ didn't make it past season 2, but the series shot to the top of the charts when Netflix picked up its streaming distribution. Could it come back?"

Booty's response was brief, but interesting:

I'll be the first to admit that it isn't much to go on, and it's certainly not confirmation of a new TV series or movie. Still, it's notable that Xbox continues to speak about Halo as one of its most important franchises, especially when directly asked about its future in television.

If Microsoft does decide to take another shot at adapting Halo, though, I know exactly what I want it to look like.

Years ago, a leaked Halo script written by Alex Garland painted a version of the universe that felt darker, grittier, and far more in line with the tone many fans associate with the games. One scene sees a terrified Corporal Jenkins desperately demanding his sidearm back from Master Chief. After repeatedly refusing to explain what he's running from, Chief hands over the pistol, only for Jenkins to immediately put it in his mouth and pull the trigger.

It's a brutal scene, but it's also incredibly effective. It instantly communicates fear, mystery, and the horror of encountering the Flood without needing lengthy exposition. That's the kind of Halo adaptation I'd love to see. One that embraces the darker corners of the universe rather than trying to reinvent them.

Maybe Halo's future on TV or the big screen isn't over after all. If Xbox does decide to revisit the franchise, hopefully it takes a closer look at what made Halo resonate with fans in the first place.

Anyway, let me know your thoughts on the possibility of Halo returning to television or film in the comments below, and be sure to take part in our poll!

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Halo: Campaign Evolved releases next month on July 28, 2026, and it's attempting to position itself as one of the most replayable Halo games ever. Between its 42 skulls, which act as gameplay modifiers, and a new Campaign Remix mode that randomizes those skulls to make each playthrough feel different, Halo Studios is clearly leaning heavily into replayability.

While I think those additions are great, it also feels as though some key staple features of the Halo franchise have been left behind along the way. I have to admit, I'm a bit gutted not to see them returning.

A visual masterpiece that will fall short

First off, thanks to @gruntdotapi on X (formerly Twitter), who first brought this to my attention, but it seems as though Halo Studios has released a Q&A ahead of the game's release, and boy, is there a lot to go over. First off, we now know that Campaign Evolved will not feature either a Photo Mode or Theater Mode. Given just how good the game looks, that feels like a massive shame.

The game is built on a modified Halo: Reach engine with Unreal Engine 5 layered on top, so it's difficult not to wonder why the work wasn't put in to support features that helped define Halo's community for years. Theater Mode, machinima, screenshots, file sharing, and community creations all played a huge role in making Halo what it is today.

Another disappointment is that personalized customization options won't appear during cutscenes. Considering the game includes custom skins, that feels like a missed opportunity to let players see their own Spartan reflected throughout the campaign experience.

Players also shouldn't expect a public demo before launch, according to the Q&A. While not every Halo game has offered one, it's still unfortunate for fans hoping to get hands-on time before release.

The replayability conundrum

What disappoints me most, however, is that Halo: Campaign Evolved appears to be built around replayability, yet as far as we can tell, it seems to be missing one of the most iconic replay-driven features from Halo: The Master Chief Collection. At least based on what we've seen so far, there doesn't appear to be any campaign scoring, campaign timing, or associated leaderboards.

For a game encouraging players to replay missions with different skull combinations and modifiers, that feels like a significant omission. Having global leaderboards where players could compare scores, race for the fastest completion times, and compete with one another would have added another layer of long-term engagement.

One and done: no post-launch support?

Unfortunately, in the aforementioned Halo Waypoint Q&A, Halo Studios have also confirmed that Halo: Campaign Evolved is a one-and-done game, and players shouldn’t expect content additions post-launch; honestly, that just sucks. As it stands, it feels like Halo: Campaign Evolved is missing a few of the franchise's most beloved community and replayability features, and I’m gutted.

What do you think? Is this a massively missed opportunity for Campaign Evolved, or do you not think it matters? Let me know in the comments and be sure to take part in our poll!

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Halo: Campaign Evolved isn't too far away now, and it marks Halo's debut on a PlayStation console, launching on PlayStation 5 alongside every other platform.

Last night, Halo Studios published a detailed Q&A on Halo Waypoint covering what fans can expect at launch. I've already covered some of the bigger announcements elsewhere, but one particular detail has left fans online, myself included, absolutely bewildered.

That detail is Halo: Campaign Evolved's split-screen requirements on PlayStation 5, and no, Halo fans aren't just upset because they're Halo fans.

On Xbox, split-screen works as you’d expect, though both players do need a Microsoft account. You can enjoy couch co-op without the need for Xbox Game Pass; however, on the PlayStation side of things, it’s a bit more complicated. According to Halo Studios, to do couch co-op, where two players play on one console in split-screen, both players will need to have a PSN account, both of which need to be linked to a Microsoft account, and both also need to have an active PlayStation+ subscription.

So, to play offline with a friend on the same console, both players need to be actively subscribed to PlayStation Plus. That's absolutely beyond stupid, no?

Surely most people can agree that's not an unreasonable thing to criticize, and I don't think Halo fans are expecting too much here. This is Halo's first-ever debut on PlayStation, and requiring two active subscriptions just to enjoy local split-screen feels completely at odds with what couch co-op is supposed to be.

I'm fully aware that split-screen likely represents a minority of players these days, but that's kind of beside the point. The issue isn't how many people use the feature; it's the principle of locking local multiplayer behind two paid subscriptions.

To me, this just reeks of poor decision-making somewhere along the line, or perhaps even a rushed one. Could this somehow be related to Sony's infrastructure or account requirements? Maybe. It's possible, especially if the game needs to be always online, but I find that highly unlikely.

Look, I'm excited for Halo: Campaign Evolved, and I'll be picking it up on both PC and Xbox. That doesn't change the fact that this situation sucks for PlayStation players, and I genuinely hope Halo Studios or whoever is responsible for this can address it before launch.

With that said, let me know your thoughts in the comments, and be sure to take part in our poll above!

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Halo: Campaign Evolved is still well over a month away, and sometimes that's just too long to wait. Fortunately, one fan has taken things into their hands. WreckedElk, as they're known online, is recreating the "Silent Cartographer" mission from Halo within — checks notes — Fortnite.

Yep, that's right. Using Unreal Editor for Fortnite, a tool that allows creators to build custom experiences within the game, WreckedElk is recreating the same parts as the anticipated Halo: Combat Evolved remake, complete with cinematics, co-op support, custom HUD elements, voice acting, and more.

The project itself is incredibly ambitious, and in all the right ways. While the full experience isn't available just yet, the developer says it will be released this Summer.

For now, if you want to give it a try, there are currently three missions available:

• Level 1 (Boarding Action): 4188-5631-1827
• Level 2 (Landfall): 0553-6413-5190
• Level 3 (Cover of Night): 2777-9577-3967

Honestly, I'm a huge fan of anything community-made for Halo. As starved as we've been as a fanbase over the years, it's often been the community that has kept the spirit of Halo alive, whether that's through projects like this or the countless mods available for Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

There's certainly no shortage of community-made content to keep Halo fans like me busy while we wait to see what Halo Studios releases next, in this case, Halo: Campaign Evolved. While it's a shame that fans are often left relying on community projects to help fill the gaps, especially for a franchise that has been so underutilized, it's still great to see people putting this much passion and effort into keeping Halo alive.

Even former Bungie developers have spoken about Halo's untapped potential, which makes projects like this all the more impressive. Whether you're interested in custom campaigns, mods, or entirely new experiences, the Halo community continues to prove it's one of the franchise's greatest strengths.

With that said and my thoughts/rant out of the way, let me know your thoughts on this ambitious community project in the comments and by taking part in our poll below:

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I often cover comments from former Halo developers, and they're usually quite profound. Recently, Halo veteran Eddie Smith spoke about the dangers of AI and warned against the industry's growing reliance on it, a message that feels increasingly relevant. Or last month, a former Bungie lead argued that Microsoft was missing a massive opportunity with Halo, and that the franchise had been underutilized for years.

Judging by recent reports of the ongoing at Xbox, however, it seems they may agree with that assessment. However, one former Halo veteran, Jaime Griesemer, had a more combative take on Halo: Campaign Evolved. In response to a fan on X (formerly Twitter), he discussed some of the changes made to the remake, specifically a section involving the tank.

After a fan observed changes to environments during tank-driving gameplay, Griesemer responded with a bullseye emoji, seemingly signaling his agreement with the sentiment. That prompted another fan to ask, “Do you think the game looks good?” Griesemer remarked, “It seems like a very well-made mod. I'm sure it was quite expensive.”

I do somewhat agree with the fan's observation regarding the tank section. That said, I still think Halo: Campaign Evolved looks fantastic. I have my gripes, as I'm sure many others do, but the game is shaping up nicely, and I'm excited for its release.

In fact, I was excited enough to secure the Collector's Edition before scalpers managed to snap up most of the available stock. Of course, I'm a huge Halo fan, so I found these comments particularly striking. Griesemer even went a step further, adding, “I mean, it’s a mod for a GREAT game.”

Personally, I can’t understand his perspective and don’t agree with his take at all. Halo: Campaign Evolved certainly has some changes that won't please everyone, but from what I've seen so far, it's shaping up to be something great.

Still, I'd love to know what you think. Do you agree with Griesemer's assessment, or do you think Halo: Campaign Evolved is much more than just a well-made mod? Let me know in the comments, and be sure to take part in our poll below:

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When you think of the legendary flagship Xbox franchise Halo, I'm willing to bet very good money that the first things that come to mind for you are its blockbuster video games that helped propel Microsoft's gaming brand and consoles into mainstream competition against the likes of Sony PlayStation and Nintendo.

Something many don't realize, though, is that the very first piece of Halo media wasn't a game, but a novel — a book from author Eric Nylund titled Halo: The Fall of Reach that released on October 30, 2001, just over two weeks before the original Xbox and Halo: Combat Evolved dropped on November 15.

The Fall of Reach serves as a prelude to the first game, exploring the origins of Master Chief John-117, the SPARTAN-II program that led to the creation of humanity's Spartan super soldiers, and the fall of its stronghold planet Reach to the alien Covenant alliance that leads to the discovery of the Halo ring in Combat Evolved.

In many ways, I'd argue it's as much of a foundation for the Halo series as Bungie's original title was — and in celebration of the franchise's 25th anniversary, Xbox and Halo Studios are adapting the legendary novel into an audio drama.

The latter announced the news in a new blog post on Thursday afternoon, revealing that the project is being put together in collaboration with the publishing group Simon & Schuster Audio. It will be a "full cast audio drama version" of The Fall of Reach, complete with several of the voice actors for Halo's most prominent characters.

At the moment, these officially include Steve Downes as Master Chief John-117 and Jen Taylor as both Cortana and Dr. Catherine Halsey, with 343 Guilty Spark voice actor Tim Dadabo narrating the drama. Halo Studios says we can expect more casting news "over the coming months."

The script of the audio drama will be based on an updated version of The Fall of Reach being included in Halo: The Master Chief Omnibus, a collection of three classic Halo novels — The Fall of Reach, The Flood, and First Strike — coming out later in 2026.

Notably, this new adaptation of The Fall of Reach can be preordered now for $29.99. According to Simon & Schuster's website, it seems to be scheduled for a November 10, 2026 release, though this hasn't been officially confirmed. It's also listed with a runtime of 11 hours, so I wouldn't expect it to be a quick listen.

As someone who loves the Halo novels and has read them passionately ever since childhood, it's awesome to see that The Fall of Reach is getting a full-blown audio drama adaptation like this. I'm looking forward to listening to it when it comes out, and expect it will be an excellent companion to the Halo: Campaign Evolved remake of the first Halo game coming out on July 28.

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