Halo Is Coming To PlayStation For The First Time

Arguably the Microsoft crown jewel franchise, Halo, is coming to PlayStation for the first time. It’s true that the sci-fi series has seen better days and may no longer be Microsoft’s top-performing franchise, but Halo is basically synonymous with Xbox, and now it’s making the jump to PlayStation in a development that would have shocked anyone reading this years ago.

Halo will come to PS5 via Halo: Campaign Evolved, the just-announced remake of the 2001 original. It’s slated for release in 2026 on PS5, as well as Xbox and PC, featuring brand-new prequel missions, split-screen co-op, new weapons, visual and audio updates, and more. You can read more about Halo: Campaign Evolved in GameSpot’s news post.

Halo is not the first Microsoft series to make the jump to a rival platform, as Gears of War–another iconic Xbox franchise–landed on PlayStation via Gears of War: Reloaded in August. Forza Horizon 5 also came to PlayStation this year, while Microsoft Flight Simulator 24 is headed to PS5 this December.

Earlier this year, Microsoft announced a new business strategy to launch its own franchises on competitor consoles as opposed to keeping them locked to Xbox as was the tradition for years. The move, it seems, is part Microsoft’s reported mandate that Xbox needs to improve profits.

Microsoft’s releases for PlayStation consoles have been successful thus far, with Xbox games regularly populating the PlayStation sales charts. Xbox president Sarah Bond recently made headlines when she said the idea of exclusive games in 2025 is “antiquated” because these days, she said, people expect big games to be available on all devices.

Microsoft may be backing away from full exclusivity for its own games, but the company still does give Xbox users preferential treatment for launch timing in some situations. For example, Forza Horizon 6 will launch as a timed-exclusive for Xbox consoles in 2026 before landing on PlayStation sometime later.

The announcement of Halo for PS5 is no big surprise, as it’s been one of the worst-kept secrets in gaming and had been the subject of leaks and reports for many months.