Copyright videogameschronicle
The Halo series will release for PlayStation consoles going forward, beyond Friday’s announcement of Campaign Evolved, Xbox has confirmed. Speaking during an announcement stream, in which Halo Studios officially revealed the remake of the original Halo campaign for Xbox, PS5, and PC, community director Brian Jarrard appeared wearing a PlayStation t-shirt and confirmed it was the studio’s intention for the series to remain multiplatform. “It’s a huge deal. It’s a long time coming,” he said about Halo coming to PlayStation consoles. “We’re just super excited to be able to welcome even more players now into the franchise we love, to fall in love with Halo the same way we all did 24 years ago. “As a community guy, I know the Halo community is super excited to welcome in their friends as well. It’s just going to mean more Halo for everyone. It’s really a new era. Halo is on PlayStation going forward, starting with Halo: Campaign Evolved.” Damon Conn, Halo Studios executive producer, called Halo coming to PlayStation an “incredible” opportunity. “What we want is for as many fans and players to be able to play the game as possible. To be on the Xbox Series X and S, PC, Steam, and PlayStation all at one time is a heck of a way to kick off the 25th anniversary.” Halo: Campaign Evolved’s PS5 announcement represents the most significant moment yet in Xbox’s transition to a multiplatform games business. Xbox’s shift to multiformat releases started in early 2024, when Microsoft gaming CEO Phil Spencer announced “just four games” from its first-party line-up would be coming to rival platforms: Pentiment, Hi-Fi Rush, Sea of Thieves, and Grounded. At the time, Spencer claimed the ports were “not a change to [Xbox’s] fundamental exclusivity strategy”. However, just months later, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella stated that Xbox was starting to reap the rewards of its multiplatform strategy, noting that earlier that month Xbox had more games among the PlayStation Store’s 25 best-selling titles than Sony did. Since then, the floodgates have opened, with numerous other former Xbox console exclusives making their way over to PlayStation, including Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Forza Horizon 5, and Gears of War: Reloaded. Earlier this month, Xbox president Sarah Bond called the idea of exclusives “antiquated”. For Microsoft, taking its games multiplatform offers an opportunity to reach larger audiences, at a time when its console sales continue to lag behind PlayStation, and in which it’s reportedly under pressure to cut costs and boost profits.
