When it comes to highly anticipated upcoming Xbox first-party games,Halo Infiniteis easily at the top of the list for lots of players. DespiteHalo Infinite’s delay into 2021, many Xbox fans continue to look forward to the first-person shooter even over the Xbox Series X’s confirmed launch window games. In turn, numerous fans have been looking to replay pastHalogames on their Xbox Series X in preparation forHalo Infinite’s release. So it’s going to be disappointing to hear thatHalo 5won’t be receiving a dedicated upgrade for Xbox Series X.
Halo 5: Guardiansis now five years old, and there are certain to be opportunities to optimize and improve it for the Xbox Series X. Unfortunately, 343 Industries has decided to pass on those opportunities for the time being. In the most recent Halo Waypoint column, 343 confirmed thatHalo 5isn’t receiving a dedicated optimization patch of the same scale as it’s doing for theMaster Chief Collection. No reasoning was provided for 343’s decision.
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That doesn’t mean thatHalo 5: Guardianswon’t see improvements on theXbox Series X, however. 343 says thatHalo 5will still feature faster loading times and more consistent high-resolution gameplay on the platform. These optimizations will work in a straightforward manner when trying to playHalo 5on Xbox Series X via standard backward compatibility, seemingly without an update.
The reason that the topic was brought up at all by 343 is due toHalofans' reaction to news about theMaster Chief Collection.Halo: The Master Chief Collectionis receiving an updatefor Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S that optimizes it for next-generation hardware. These optimizations include faster loading, cross-gen play, adjustable FOV, better splitscreen, and 4K 120FPS/1080p 120FPS on Series X and Series S respectively. Fans asked ifHalo 5would also get a big update, leading to the response from 343.
Part of the reason thatHalo 5may not be getting more optimization for Xbox Series X is that the game already recently was updated for Xbox One X. In 2017,Halo 5was updated to support native 4K resolutionon the mid-gen refresh console. That doesn’t mean that another update pushing for 120FPS or HDR wouldn’t be great, of course, but it might explain why 343 isn’t rushing to do another update.
Another good reason for 343 not doing aHalo 5update is that the studio is really busy. Not only isHalo Infinitestill in development, but the studio is also finishing up the development ofHalo: The Master Chief Collectionon PC. Nevermind the now confirmed optimizations for theMaster Chief Collectionon Xbox Series X and S. There may just not be enough resources to pivot toHalo 5. Perhaps if fans keep pushing for an update, 343 will reconsider in 2021.
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