Here's When Halo 3 Launches On PC

It's a big day for Halo fans, because the PC version of Halo: The Master Chief Collection is getting a new game today. Halo 3 is set to go live on PC in just a couple of hours, and when it does, 343 Industries and Microsoft will be one step closer to their promise of bringing the entire Master Chief Collection over to PC by the end of 2020.

In fact, once Halo 3 is out, 343 Industries will only have two more games to go before the Master Chief Collection is complete: Halo 3 ODST and Halo 4. In any case, the update adding Halo 3 to the PC version of MCC will be available later today, at 10 AM PDT – just about two hours from the time of this writing. The patch notes that 343 Industries shared today tell us that Halo 3 is arriving alongside a hefty update.

With the addition of Halo 3, 343 Industries is also adding Forge to the PC versions of Halo 3, Halo: Reach, and Halo 2: Anniversary. Those who dug into Forge back when Halo 3 was the big thing on Xbox 360 will find that it's been expanded with "new objects and budget increases" on PC. That isn't limited to Halo 3 Forge either, as Halo: Reach has undergone a similar expansion.

This update also brings some fixes to Halo: Reach's audio, which has been a problem ever since that game launched back in December. After this update has been applied, 343 says that Reach's audio should be aligned "closer to Xbox 360 quality," so if the audio bugs in that game have been a source of annoyance, it looks like you might finally get some relief.

That just touches on all of the fixes that are coming along with this update, so hit the link above for 343's full patch notes. Halo 3 will be available on Steam and through the Windows Store as part of the Master Chief Collection for $39.99, or available as a standalone purchase for $9.99. It'll also be available through Xbox Game Pass for PC, so if you're subscribed, you can download the Master Chief Collection through the Xbox PC app and play Halo 3 that way.