Halo 5 was considered for a PC port but was scrapped due to technical issues, former developer says
A former 343 Industries developer has revealed that Halo 5 was originally planned for a PC port. However, due to technical difficulties, the project was scrapped, making it the only mainline Halo game that is unplayable on the platform.
The details:
Tyler Owens, a former infrastructure engineer at 343 (now Halo Studios), took to X over the weekend to share memories from his time working on Halo 5. When a fan mentioned that they would like a PC port of the Xbox One game, Owens revealed that it was originally considered but will most likely never happen due to technical issues. “I wish but it’s never going to happen imo,” he wrote. “I think the port that was being considered ran into significant tech hurdles and was scrapped.”
The fan responded to Owens, suggesting that one of the issues could have been related to frame rate, as, like many popular titles, its physics and other core systems were directly connected. While Owens was not part of the team working on the port, he stated that the reasoning "seems plausible," as allowing a frame rate above the Xbox version's 60 FPS limit could render it unplayable.
Halo 5 was partially ported to PC through the release of "Halo 5: Forge," including its custom games and modes. However, it received mixed reviews due to its poor performance and 60 FPS lock, implying that the game systems' reliance on frame rate was indeed holding back a full port.
Halo 5 is currently the only mainline game in the series that has not been released on PC, with the Master Chief Collection including ports of all games between Combat Evolved and Reach, while Infinite was released on PC alongside the Xbox and Game Pass versions. It's possible that it could be released in the future, but Halo Studios is currently working on multiple new Unreal Engine 5 Halo games, which will help it avoid similar problems in the future.
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