Although Microsoft’s brought over other Xbox One exclusives to the PC of late (Gears of War, Quantum Break), the company’s been pretty adamant that Halo 5 won’t make it over. Or…will it? Today, the folks at 343 Industries announced that Halo 5 ‘s “Forge” map editor will come to Windows 10 later this year.
No, still no word on Halo 5 proper.
Anyway, this standalone editor is dubbed Forge – Halo 5: Guardians Edition, which is quite a mouthful. It includes keyboard and mouse support, plus the ability to edit/play in up to 4K.
Speaking of which: You can, indeed, play Halo 5 multiplayer with this, sort of. From the blog post: “Enlist the help of Friends to help build, test, and play your Forge creations on Windows 10.” That sounds pretty definitive, so at least we’ll have a custom map bonanza to mess around with.
Why this matters: Smart money is on an imminent Halo 5 PC Edition announcement. Maybe at a massive event like, oh I don’t know—E3 next month? I’m not saying it’s going to happen: Microsoft still wants to sell Xbox Ones, and Halo is an easy ace. But at this point, all the heavy lifting (or at least a lot of the heavy lifting) has been done in order to port Forge over, and the one-year delay ensures most people who wanted the game on the Xbox already bought it. A port is easy money. We’ll keep an eye out.