343 Inudstries are working on ways to pull all of the mods made for the PC version of Halo over to run on the Xbox version of the Master Chief Collection.
While the work is far from complete, this is good reason to be excited. Both because the PC modding scene will get to play their work in new places, and also because it could be a sign there will be a PC version of the MCC, too.
Halo: Custom Edition was a free expansion for the PC version of Halo: Combat Evolved (confusingly, meaning both versions of the game can be abbreviated to H:CE). Long before Forge, PC players were making custom maps for Halo.
As well as being able to map out multiplayer arenas, you could also drop in AI, build missions with checkpoints and objectives.
In a recent developer update, 343 explained that Sean Cooper, a member of the Custom Edition modding community, had joined the team and was “working on the pipeline and process to bring Halo Custom Edition maps into MCC.”
Unfortunately, the work isn’t going to be implemented for a while yet. “This is longer lead proof-of-concept work that isn’t part of the near-term scope but he’s shared some exciting progress successfully loading a Halo Custom Edition map into MCC,” the update states. “There’s a lot of rough edges and plenty of work to still do on this front – and to be honest this feature work isn’t currently even tied to an official milestone – but it’s a really tantalizing and exciting prospect to think about further down the road.”
Does this mean MCC will come to PC? Well, according to 343’s FAQ “We know [a PC release] is something many people have been asking and wanting for years now. Currently our priority is updating and improving MCC for Xbox and there’s still plenty of work to be done on that front. While we have no official plans to announce at this time, we’ve heard you loud and clear.”