343 Industries have indicated their plan to stop releasing season for Halo: The Master Chief Collection after their next season, the last to release before Halo Infinite launches later this year. Season 8, set to launch this autumn, might be the final one as they move toward smaller updates for the game “that can land when they’re ready based on development status and studio roadmap alignment”.
The studio maintains that these updates will continue to be free and will include unreleased features, as well as content from this year. They have also stated there will be a continued effort to improve stability and tackle legacy fixes where possible.
The statements made imply that the studio is preparing MCC players for a future of smaller support and content updates. With Halo Infinite set to release its multiplayer as free-to-play, it makes sense they would want to integrate their audience into their newest game.
Michael “Farns” Fahrny discussed the impact that development on Infinite has had. He stated:
With Halo Infinite’s release now locked for December 8th, it’s safe to say the remainder of the year is going to be a wild one here at the studio. While the MCC and Halo Infinite teams are generally separate entities, we do have overlap when it comes to shared areas like services, support, community, and more. To that end, it’s important to us that we position MCC’s eighth season for success but also help alleviate any conflicts that could take away from the studio’s focus on Halo Infinite’s launch.
To that end, Season 8’s release later this fall will be our last official MCC update of this calendar year. Suffice it to say that we’re going to finish the year on a high note with a jam-packed season that’s actually swelled in some regards as pieces once ear-marked for later this year were pulled in to clear the landing zone for Halo Infinite.
However, he also added that “We still have a lot of goodness to deliver in 2022.”
Halo: The Master Chief Collection launched back in 2014 and at that time was plagued with issues. 343 Industries however stuck with the game managing to fix most major issues and create a game that could survive for 7 years thus far. While this might not come as welcome news to fans of the game, it is fair that the game has had a great run.
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