Xbox News Event Coming Next Week, May Reveal Halo: The Master Chief Collection For PC

Microsoft announced today that it will air the next "Inside Xbox" episode on March 12, and it's notable because the confirmation comes amid a number of exciting Xbox rumors about new consoles, Halo: The Master Chief Collection coming to PC, and more.

All Microsoft has officially confirmed is that the March 12 episode of Inside Xbox One will contain some "exciting news" about Halo: The Master Chief Collection, as well as updates on DayZ, One Piece World Seeker, and Xbox Game Pass. Intriguingly, Microsoft also said there is "much more" coming during the event.

The Inside Xbox episode airs on Tuesday, March 12, starting at 2 PM PT / 5 PM ET. That's 10 PM in London and 8 AM in Sydney the following day.

As for the rumours, Microsoft's confirmation of the Inside Xbox event comes just a day after noted Microsoft inside Brad Sams reported that Halo: The Master Chief Collection is potentially almost ready to be announced for PC. He said a PC version of The Master Chief Collection has been an "open secret" for a while now. Sams also reported that The Master Chief Collection's PC edition has been delayed internally already as part of Microsoft's effort to make sure the PC release doesn't launch with serious issues like the Xbox One edition did years ago.

The Master Chief Collection originally launched back in November 2014 for Xbox One. It suffered from serious issues at launch, but Microsoft quickly responded and fixed the problems, and the company continues to update and improve the game to this day.

The package contains the Anniversary editions of Halo 1 and 2, as well as the regular Halo 3 and 4, along with the campaign mode for Halo 3: ODST. The Master Chief Collection also includes multiplayer support for each game. Since the game isn't announced for PC yet, we don't know what differences might exist between between the console and PC editions.

The Master Chief Collection coming to PC would be huge news, as only Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2 (and the short-lived Halo Online in Russia) ever came to PC. It would also be a ramp of sorts to Halo Infinite, which is coming to Xbox One and PC sometime in the future.

The other big Xbox rumour swirling now is about a disc-free Xbox One. This "All-Digital Edition," as it's supposedly called, is reportedly set to go on sale in May with pre-orders opening in April. Given that Microsoft supposedly wants to focus on its next-generation consoles, Anaconda and Lockhart, at E3, announcing the all-digital Xbox One ahead of the show would seemingly make sense.

As for the Xbox Game Pass news teased for Inside Xbox, Microsoft already confirmed that it'll announce the latest Xbox Game Pass titles on March 12, so that could be one part of the news. Sams, the Microsoft insider, also reported that Xbox Game Pass is coming to PC, so that could also be part of the announcement during Inside Xbox. The idea is that Microsoft will make Halo: The Master Chief Collection an Xbox Game Pass title to encourage people to sign up. There are a number of unanswered questions about Xbox Game Pass on PC, like whether or not memberships for the Xbox One edition will carry to the PC edition and what the game lineup will be. This should all become clear soon if Microsoft does indeed announce Xbox Game Pass for PC soon.

Xbox Game Pass coming to PC has always been expected, as Microsoft's CEO said months ago that it would hit PC in the future. Xbox boss Phil Spencer went even further, saying he wants to bring Xbox Game Pass to "every device."

Check back with GameSpot for all the news from next week's Inside Xbox event. What are you hoping to see? Let us know in the comments below!