Halo 5 is (sort of) coming to PC

With Microsoft IP lining up to make the jump from console to PC, the timing of Halo’s return to the Windows platform has been an ever pressing question.

And now we kind of have the answer. Microsoft has not announced a PC port of Xbox One title Halo 5, but it has confirmed that a big chunk of its multiplayer mode is making the jump.

Halo 5’s Forge creation suite is getting a dedicated PC release in the form of ‘Forge – Halo 5: Guardians Edition for Windows 10′. It’ll be free, too. And there will be some extra features, including keyboard and mouse support, 4K resolution and map sharing with friends. Furthermore, creations made on PC can then be published on Xbox One.

Most importantly, however, the software will very much support online multiplayer on PC. ArsTechnica has received confirmation that basically this is Halo 5 multiplayer without matchmaking, meaning PC players will have to search out companions via their friends list. Other than that, though, it’s pretty much limit-free multiplayer.

Forge on the PC will finally give the mouse/keyboard editing precision the community has always been clamouring for,” 343 Industries’ Tom French said. On top of that, an updated and optimized UI geared towards mouse interactions makes a lot of the inputs in Forge easier/faster than before.

Since we released Forge in Halo 5 we’ve seen so many amazing new things come from it – from weird mini-games we could have never anticipated to meticulously crafted maps that are even approaching the visual quality of internally built maps. The team has continued to wonder what we’d get if we could put Forge in the hands of as many people as possible, and making it free on Windows 10 literally gives the chance to anyone who wants to jump in and try their hands at building a cool new map for Halo 5.”