Halo: The Master Chief Collection public testing has been delayed

As you may have already guessed, the first public tests for Halo: The Master Chief Collection won't be kicking off this month. Halo community director Brian Jarrard warned that there was a chance they wouldn't begin in April, which he's now confirmed. 

"I know excitement and anticipation is off the charts and everyone here inside the studio shares it as well," he wrote in a Halo Insiders update. "But this is a really complicated project and we all agree that quality trumps everything else and we need to bring MCC to PC at the bar Halo fans and PC players expect and demand."

Progress is being made, but it's proving to be more challenging than the studio expected. In a previous update, Jarrard explained some of the additional complexities that the PC version adds. 

"One of the team's main priorities to support PC flighting is getting the mouse/keyboard controls feeling as good as possible and there's been good progress on that front," he wrote. "Some key things are still coming together though—for example, in yesterday's playtest build, the full UI and functionality to remap keys isn't in yet so if you want to change defaults, it requires launching a separate application. That works for now, but isn't a viable experience for any kind of external flighting." 

Jarrard doesn't offer a new date or window, but 343 Industries will be posting a developer update later today, showing how Reach and the rest of the MCC are progressing. 

Fraser Brown
Online Editor

Fraser is the UK online editor and has actually met The Internet in person. With over a decade of experience, he's been around the block a few times, serving as a freelancer, news editor and prolific reviewer. Strategy games have been a 30-year-long obsession, from tiny RTSs to sprawling political sims, and he never turns down the chance to rave about Total War or Crusader Kings. He's also been known to set up shop in the latest MMO and likes to wind down with an endlessly deep, systemic RPG. These days, when he's not editing, he can usually be found writing features that are 1,000 words too long or talking about his dog.