Halo 3 gets new content for its 13th anniversary

By Tom Caswell August 11, 2020

Halo 3 will receive new additions 13 years after its release, including weapon skins, a first for the game. This is in celebration of the historic game’s anniversary.

The content will be a part of the season 3 update to Master Chief Collection. Weapons from Halo 3: ODST will be brought over to its predecessor, expanding how players can take out their opponents in matchmaking.

A bunch of new cosmetics will also be added to the game, including weapon skins, which is an entirely new customization option for Halo 3. Developer 343 Industries, which worked on Halo 4 through Infinite, as well as the Master Chief Collection, had previously added cosmetic options to the original Halo: Combat Evolved 19 years after that game’s release.

Season 3 of the MCC will be paired alongside the release of Halo 3: ODST on PC, the beta of which is scheduled for mid-August. Previous updates have quickly followed after their betas have taken place.

The new content can be unlocked once the update goes live via completing challenges in both the single-player campaign and the multiplayer.

Microsoft E3 2019 celebration Halo: Reach PC beta — Image used with permission by copyright holder

This will not be the only new content for Halo 3 that is added to the Master Chief Collection, according to 343. The studio also has some massive updates for the gaming package at large, including crossplay between Xbox One and PC, custom game browsers, and keyboard and mouse support for console. These tweaks are currently planned for 2020.

The history of the Master Chief Collection has been a storied one. The package featuring Halo: Combat Evolved through Halo 4 launched with tremendous bugs that made its multiplayer component largely unplayable in its first year. Over time, 343 Industries was able to squash the bugs and turn the MCC into one of the most popular multiplayer experiences in gaming, a title it still holds to this day.

In 2019, the developer began to put the Halo titles out one by one on PC in chronological order, starting with Halo: Reach. It sounds like once that rollout is complete — only two games are left — the studio has plans to add content to the package even as it begins to focus on releasing the next installment in the franchise, Halo: Infinite.

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