Thanks to the efforts of the Halo community, more than 6.6 million custom-made maps are heading to Halo: The Master Chief Collection. The maps were by Halo players, who used the Forge custom map creator tool. All of them hail from legacy Halo games, including Halo 3, Halo 4, and Halo: Reach.
The announcement came earlier today via Twitter. According to the Halo account, “over 6.6 million user-generated maps in Halo 3, Halo: Reach, and Halo 4 have been successfully copied for future access in MCC.”
Over 6.6 million user-generated maps in Halo 3, Halo: Reach, and Halo 4 have been successfully copied for future access in MCC! Learn more about our plan to bring these community creations forward: https://t.co/JBUrifp2mz pic.twitter.com/tPXdFVy8mp
— Halo (@Halo) August 28, 2019
It was a massive undertaking by developer 343 Industries, which announced its plans in a July Halo update. On August 26, the developer invited Halo players to jump on their Xbox consoles and copy files to The Master Chief Collection from the aforementioned legacy games. The developer allowed players to upload their custom games types earlier in the month.
There was only one caveat in the mix: players weren’t allowed to copy over film clips, films, or screenshots. Which means that amazing snatch-and-grab I did on the enemy flag on High Ground will be forever stuck on my Xbox 360.
So, how long do we have to wait to see the custom maps and game types? The developer said the uploaded content will go live once Halo: Reach gets added to the collection. Considering the pacing of development so far, however, we’re betting they won’t be accessible until the end of the year. Additionally, the maps and gametypes will be available for PC players. But only once the collection lands on Steam, hopefully later this year.
Going for a test run on my new map
More than 6.6 million maps is a staggering amount of content to try out. The Halo development team, however, has been a major part of getting some of the best maps under a spotlight. Hopefully we will get to try out some of the more interesting user creations in due time.
I’m especially fond of seeing classic maps recreated in newer games. For example, the below map, called Remembrance, is a faithful remake of Ivory Tower from Halo 2 but playable in Halo 5.
I can just sense the guy with the sword sneaking up behind me.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection with Halo: Reach is coming to PC soon via Steam.
