Halo, the once flagship Xbox-exclusive video game that Microsoft launched its first console with, has finally gone on sale. Microsoft has announced Halo: Campaign Evolved – a remake of the original game’s campaign – and will be coming to PlayStation 5 on day one.
A remake of the 2001 campaign created by Bungie in Unreal Engine 5 will be released in 2026 on PC, Xbox Series X and S and, most importantly, on PS5. It is the first fresh Halo game since 2021’s Halo Infinite and the first Halo game to ever be released on a PlayStation console. IGN played Halo: Campaign Evolved and has all the details here, including the first information about the fresh three-mission prequel story arc. And yes, in case you’re wondering, there is cross-play, which means Xbox, PC, and PlayStation owners can play Halo together in co-op for the first time.
Halo: Campaign Evolved is therefore the last nail in the coffin of the Xbox-exclusive game, although in fact the release of the shooter series on PlayStation is not a surprise. Xbox Game Studios is already one of the most prolific and successful publishers on PlayStation, and just this week Xbox CEO Sarah Bond called the idea of exclusive games “outdated,” so Microsoft’s position on the issue is crystal clear.
But what prompted Microsoft to pursue cross-platform development? Recent Bloomberg the report alleged that Microsoft is pressuring Xbox studios to provide a 30% margin – much higher than the industry average – and one way the studios can assist make more money is by releasing their games on competing platforms such as PlayStation and Nintendo Switch, as well as on PC.
One notable critic of this exclusivity is former Sony Interactive Entertainment America president and CEO Shawn Layden, who last year said that when a video game costs more than $200 million, “exclusivity is your Achilles heel.”
“It limits the market you can address,” Layden said GryBeatbefore citing Arrowhead’s success Helldivers 2which was released on PlayStation 5 and PC and was a huge success. “Especially when you are in the world of live games or free-to-play games. Another platform is just another way to open the funnel and attract more people. As we know, in the world of free-to-play 95% of these people will never spend a penny. The business is based on conversions. You have to increase your chances by opening the funnel. Helldivers 2 showed this on PlayStation, coming out on PC at the same time. You get that funnel wider again with more people.”
Layden said single-player games have a similar audience appeal to multiplayer games, although they are not exactly the same. “For single-player games, it’s not the same requirement,” he said. “But if you’re spending $250 million, you want to be able to sell it to as many people as possible, even if it’s only for 10% more.”
Layden’s comments echo those of former Xbox chief Peter Moore, who recent interview with IGN suggested that Microsoft would debate internally whether to release Xbox poster Halo on PlayStation.
“If Microsoft says, wait, we’ll make $250 million on our own platforms, but if we then acquired Halo as, let’s call it a third party, we could make a billion… That’s something you have to think long and hard about, right?” Moore said. “I mean, you just have to go, yeah, should it be kept? It’s part of the intellectual property. It’s more than just a game. And how do you use it? There’s always these conversations about how to use it in everything we would do?”
Microsoft’s stance on exclusive games has become one of the most talked about topics in the Xbox community, and that discussion will become even louder now that we know that Halo has moved to PlayStation. Microsoft’s approach stands in stark contrast to that of Nintendo and Sony. Nintendo has the toughest policy towards its games, releasing them exclusively on its consoles. In recent years, Sony has softened its approach, releasing live multiplayer games on PC at the same time as PlayStation (and in the case of Helldivers 2, eventually on Xbox). However, Sony still refuses to release its huge single-player games on anything other than PlayStation on day one (the most recent example being Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Yotei).
Now Campaign Evolved has been confirmed for PS5, there’s no going back for Halo. Indeed, it looks like Halo is as much a PlayStation game as it is an Xbox game from now on. Speaking on a panel at the 2025 Halo World Championship tonight, Halo Community Director Brian Jarrard joked: “It’s truly a new era. Halo will be available on PlayStation in the future, starting with Halo: Campaign Evolved.”
For more information, be sure to check out all the information announced on Halo Studios’ Halo: Campaign Evolved dashboard.
Wesley is the news director at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. Wesley can be reached at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
