Halo: The Master Chief Collection PC Edition's First Beta Test Not Launching This Month After All

At the start of April, 343 Industries announced that it hoped it might be able to release Halo: The Master Chief Collection's first PC beta test during the month. But now it turns out that's not going to happen.

Community director Brian Jarrard said on Twitter that the team had to delay the first beta test, or "flight" in the Halo parlance, due in part to the complexity of the project. Here's his full statement:

The delay is a bummer, especially because fans have been waiting so long for Halo: The Master Chief Collection to come to PC, but it's refreshing to hear 343 speak so openly about the development process. There is no word yet as to when the first flights will be available, but Jarrard added that a more in-depth blog post is coming this week with answers.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection is coming to PC in stages, beginning with Halo: Reach (which is also releasing for Xbox One) and continuing chronologically from there--Halo: CE, Halo 2, Halo 3, and then Halo 4. The titles will be released on PC through betas with the aim of testing each title with a limited group of people first before rolling out publicly for everyone. You can sign up for the free Halo Insider program here for a chance to try out the games early.

Each title within the Halo: The Master Chief Collection on PC will be sold individually, but the "flights" are free, if you get in. And in a big change for the series, Halo: The Master Chief Collection will be available through Steam.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection originally launched in November 2014 for Xbox One. It faced serious and significant server issues at launch that made the title basically unplayable for some. Microsoft improved the experience significantly over time, and today the title is mostly stable and highly populated with players thanks in part to its inclusion with Xbox Game Pass.

The next Halo game, Halo Infinite, is in the works for PC and Xbox One. It's supposedly going to be featured during Microsoft's E3 2019 briefing in June.