Report: Microsoft is Considering Bringing Halo on PS5, Starting With Halo: CE Remaster

This Sunday, June 9, Microsoft will hold its much-anticipated Xbox Games Showcase where we should see various games coming soon to the Xbox ecosystem, including some exclusive games. This time around, however, Microsoft may find it increasingly hard to reassure Xbox fans that Xbox exclusive games are here to stay.

Back in February, the Xbox team announced an important change of strategy with the release of four Xbox-exclusive games on rival consoles. At the time, Phil Spencer, the CEO of Microsoft Gaming explained that “When we don’t damage Xbox and we can grow our business using what other platforms have to help us with that, we’re going to do that.”

While the Xbox leadership team didn’t close the door at porting more Xbox games on other consoles, Sea of Thieves recently topping the charts on the PS5 Store proved that there’s an audience for Xbox games on PlayStation consoles. And according to the latest paid newsletter from The Verge’s Tom Warren, Microsoft is still considering porting more of its games on PlayStation, including the key IP that defined the first Xbox console generation.

“One game that is being considered for release on PS5 is Halo,” Warren wrote. “Sources tell me Microsoft is working on some form of a Halo: Combat Evolved remaster that is also being considered for rival consoles. I don’t expect Microsoft to announce this during the showcase, as it’s early days for this remaster.”

Microsoft making Halo available on PlayStation would quite unprecedented in the video games industry: It would be as if Nintendo released its Mario or Zelda games on PlayStation and Xbox. Halo: Combat Evolved set a new standard for console shooters when it was released alongside the original Xbox back in November 2001, and its sequel Halo 2 popularized online multiplayer on consoles thanks to Microsoft’s forward-thinking Xbox Live network.

343 Industries, the studio responsible for the Halo series at Xbox Game Studios has already remastered Halo: Combat Evolved, and it did so multiple times: First, there was Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary on the Xbox 360 back in 2011, which was followed by an Xbox One remaster included in the Halo: The Master Chief Collection anthology. The Master Chief Collection later received graphical upgrades for the Xbox One X and current-gen Xbox Series X|S consoles, and a PC version has been released as well.

Even though 343 Industries could still remaster the game one more time and add new graphical effects like ray-tracing, Halo: CE didn’t really age well, especially its level design. However, if Microsoft is really considering bringing Halo to other consoles, Halo: CE would be the logical starting point, even though the prequel Halo: Reach would make more sense from a chronological standpoint.

Anyway, Warren’s report makes it clear that the Xbox team is willing to take some calculated risks to reach new audiences. The effort to port Xbox-exclusive games to other consoles is known internally as “Project Latitude,” and Warren previously reported that Starfield and the upcoming Indiana Jones were also being considered for a PS5 release. But that’s not all.

“As part of Project Latitude, Microsoft has also been considering launching Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition on rival consoles in early 2025, and its upcoming remastered spinoff, Age of Mythology: Retold, could come, too,” Warren explained. “Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, which was recently released on Xbox and PC, is also under consideration for a PS5 release. Nothing is set in stone for Project Latitude until its close to release, and games that are earmarked for the project can sometimes shift based on Microsoft’s own strategy and the work involved to port and develop the games.”

If nothing appears to definitive yet, the uncertainty regarding the future of Xbox exclusive games could make the Xbox ecosystem less attractive. Why should gamers still care about Xbox consoles if most Xbox games eventually end up on other consoles? There’s still the ability to play new first-party games on day one on Xbox with an Xbox Game Pass subscription. However, in an era where most games are released in an unfinished state, this may hardly be a killer feature.