Doesn’t have to be steam, but IMO it’s the best form of digital distribution.
I don’t know how much effort it takes to put them on steam, but I’m sure it would be worth it. The older halos (1+2) aren’t being physically distributed anymore, so I’m pretty sure you have to buy them second hand, which doesn’t make 343 any profits.
I’m also fairly sure a lot of people are willing to buy halos on steam (I know I would!) cause there are only so many physical copies still in circulation. I know that halo 4 or 5 won’t get ported anytime soon because, let’s face it, having people pay for a console and xbox live gold is more profitable, but it’s about time halo 1 and 2 get some digital distribution.
If halo 3 and ODST could also be ported to PC (should be about time eh?) then that’d be even better.
They are still selling the physical copies with authentic keys online! I Just bought Halo CE and Halo 2 from New Egg and the games shipped in it’s original packaging. I’ve installed both games onto Windows 10 (x64) and they work great.
Although with the exception to Halo 2 multiplayer… it appears Microsoft/343i have shut it down without providing any information regarding the servers fate (as of this post).
I doubt either will happen. The first game, maybe, but I don’t think Microsoft cares to remind people that the PC ports exist; they’d rather you buy an Xbox One and the Master Chief Collection if you want to play these games.
Halo 2 has too many issues. Its implementation of vsync doesn’t work on modern video cards, so you’ll often have to limit the frame rate with your graphics driver so the game doesn’t run too fast. GFWL is half dead, which means you can’t activate the game half the time without hacking the registry, and it sounds like the multiplayer is gone now. They’d have to patch out GFWL, and I’m not sure if they’re willing to invest the work. There’s a reason Halo 2 was never on the GFWL Marketplace.
Halo online is being beta tested in russia, and it will likely be a Windows10 release to help push the system. I wish we’d get a steam release for convenience, especially for Halo 3, but it’s unlikely.
If Halo came to steam, prepare for the PC master race stuff. But if you have to have Xbox Live gold or something to play it on the Xbox App, then that could be an idea