343 Industries released information on the Halo Master Chief Collection in a lengthy blog post last night. This post covers topics such as the Season 8 content coming in autumn as well as more minor things such as quality of life updates.

The post began with the announcement that Season 8 would be the MCC's last official patch of 2021. Halo Infinite will release in December, meaning that the end of the year will be "a wild one", according to Michael Fahrny, a senior producer at 343 Industries.

Adding that whilst the teams on the MCC and Infinite generally work separately, there is some overlap. Mainly in community and service support, amongst other things.

This release explains why they want to "finish the year on a high note" with the Season 8 update to make sure that nothing will potentially cause issues for the release of 343's next flagship game. In addition to helping create hype and anticipation for it.

  • MORE: Halo Infinite to Receive Monthly Updates Between Now and Launch

Modding for Halo MCC on PC

Modding support for the MCC was the next highlight topic of the post. Initially stating how the team was very pleased with community feedback and interaction with the Halo MCC's current modding tools.

Halo MCC

With the current mod access only being for Halo: Combat Evolved, Fahrny detailed the plans to expand developer mod support, with Halo 2 and 3 tools currently in testing. In addition to Halo Reach and Halo 4 mod support being in development.

On top of this, there was confirmation that Steam Workshop support was in the pipeline for the future. The importance of this cannot be understated, as this will allow for even greater access to community-made mods for all supported games within the Halo MCC.

Having developers get behind community access to games is incredibly important, helping a game such as this succeed in the long run. It is fan-made game modes and mods that allow older games to stay relevant and compete with newer games. The Halo MCC and other games supported by their developers similarly can potentially thrive for far longer than initially expected.

Halo 3, Grifball

The Small Details

You can find the full developer update on the MCC here, but some of the more minor but still essential features in development are as follows:

  • Custom Game Browser for: Halo 1 and Halo 3
  • Colourblind Support
  • Expanded Subtitles
  • Quality of Life Updates: Lighting, AI, Stat Tracking

I think putting in colourblind modes/ support is very nice to see. This addition will hopefully help combat UI and general visual clarity issues that the game can have. Players such as myself have the chance to play without the frustration of being unable to see certain parts of the UI, enemies or terrain in certain situations.

Minor fixes and additions make the difference when playing a game for a long time. The little things add up over months or even years of playing, potentially leading to player frustration and quitting if the problem is not addressed.

While some things such as colourblind support should have been in the game since release, it is commendable to see 343 Industries still adding and improving upon their game to such an extent so far down the line after release.