Halo is coming home — and this time it is not staying on the Xbox family of consoles. Microsoft has confirmed that Halo: Campaign Evolved, a ground-up remake of Bungie's genre-defining 2001 shooter Halo: Combat Evolved, launches globally on July 28, 2026. The headline for anyone who has followed this franchise for the last two decades: it is releasing on PlayStation 5 on day one, alongside Xbox Series X|S and PC. That is a first for the series, and it says a great deal about where Xbox's software strategy is heading.
What It Is
Campaign Evolved rebuilds the entirety of the original campaign from the ground up on a modern engine — every mission, from the crash-landing on the ring to the final desperate escape, remade with contemporary lighting, higher-fidelity models, and reworked audio. Developed by Halo Studios and published by Xbox Game Studios, this is not the 2011 Anniversary re-skin that let you toggle between old and new graphics. It is a full remake, built for players in 2026.
The campaign supports co-op, and the studio has confirmed the sandbox that made the original sing — the weapons, the grenades, the vehicles, and the famously smart Covenant AI — has been preserved and modernized rather than reinvented.
The Big New Addition: Operation METEORITE
Campaign Evolved is not just a remaster with a fresh coat of paint. It adds Operation: METEORITE, a brand-new three-mission story arc set roughly a year before the events of the original game. It follows the Master Chief and Sergeant Johnson on a clandestine UNSC operation aboard a Covenant research vessel — canonical connective tissue that fills in a slice of the timeline fans have speculated about for years.
The new missions push the sandbox into fresh territory, including a space-combat sequence aboard and around the Covenant vessel — the kind of set piece the original hardware could never have delivered.
Platforms, Price and Game Pass
The game launches on Xbox Series X|S, PC (via the Microsoft Store and Steam), Xbox Cloud Gaming, and PlayStation 5. With Xbox Play Anywhere, buying it once gets you both the console and PC versions at no extra cost.
Pricing breaks down across three tiers:
- Standard Edition — $49.99: the base game.
- Premium Edition — $69.99: up to five days of early access plus bonus cosmetics.
- Collector's Edition — $199.99: the full physical package for the die-hards.
Crucially, Campaign Evolved is on Game Pass from day one — available at launch on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass, and rolling out to the lower Standard and Premium tiers within a year of release.
The Dates You Need
The full launch is July 28 at 8am PDT (July 29 in Japan and select Asia-Pacific markets). Players who buy the Premium or Collector's editions get in early: Early Access begins July 23, five days ahead of the wider release.
Why It Matters
For twenty-five years, Master Chief has been the face of Xbox — the mascot you could not play anywhere else. A day-one PlayStation 5 release quietly retires that idea for good. It is the clearest signal yet that Microsoft now sees Halo as a franchise to be sold to everyone, everywhere, rather than a walled-garden exclusive meant to sell a specific box.
Whether you are a lapsed fan who last touched the ring on an original Xbox, or a PlayStation-only player who has never fired a plasma pistol in your life, July 28 is the day the door finally opens. It has been a long time coming.
