It’s a great that many of the Xbox One exclusives are coming to PC. However, there is one question which still remains in the minds of many. Where is Halo 5?
Phil Spencer had an answer to this specific question later during a media Q&A at Microsoft’s Build 2016 conference, attempting to explain why some games will remain exclusive to particular platforms like Xbox One.
Spencer stated that “all” Microsoft published games will hit both platforms. Games will release for Xbox or Windows 10 depending on their suitability for either platform. By using RTS, Ashes of The Singularity as an example, Spencer stated that it’s not a great fit for console, even though Xbox One will get mouse and keyboard support during its lifespan.
“If I enable keyboard and mouse on a console – which we will do – and then you download [Ashes of the Singularity] and you’re playing on a monitor, is that a PC game or a console game? I get out of saying ‘all,’ because I think there are games that people want to play in front of their monitor with a keyboard and mouse, and I want to be somebody that builds those games.” He said.
Spencer believes there are games which work out for both the platforms, by giving Forza 6 as example, then there are other examples such as Quantum Break and Rise Of The Tomb Raider.
He does not want to make release parity some kind of a rule for every game that comes out. “I don’t want to make it some kind of artificial mandate, because then I think we end up with ‘Frankengames’, games that really weren’t meant for a certain platform. And because some suit said, ‘Hey, everything’s gotta run on both platforms’, you end up with something people don’t want”, said Phil Spencer, further adding, “You should expect it when franchises look like they belong on both platforms, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s a mandate for the studios because it’s not.”
So far, so good. But what about Halo 5? Spencer returned to his Frankengame analogy and explained how Halo 5 was designed for consoles from the beginning of its release, while on the other hand, Halo Wars 2 was developed with both Xbox and PC in mind.
“In terms of Halo FPS on PC, I think there’s a ton of opportunity for us right now, but I don’t want to get into a world where we’re looking back, like at Halo 5. It doesn’t mean there’s nothing there that could ever end up on PC, but I’d much rather look forward with what our plans are.” He said
It’s rather odd to see such dodgy responses for Halo 5, considering if it did came on PC, it could do quite well. There are quite a lot of people waiting for Halo release on PC. While there is a multiplayer variant of Halo on PC, it is not available for everyone since it was only released for Russia. Though there are some ways by which you can play it from any other region. *wink wink*
I think the real reason why Halo 5 can’t come on PC is because it may anger the core Xbox One player base, which may result in them creating a petition on change.org against this decision.
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