Halo: The Master Chief Collection is looking to add more players into their game for the future, looking to someday support up to 60 players.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection is famous for its arena battles with up to 16 players. It seems the devs at 343 Industries want to up the player count. The target, according to reports, is between 40 to 60 players.
Halo with 60 players would “be wild”, says producer
Halo MCC loves its high-profile team battles and more chaos is always a good thing in them. All of Halo’s arenas can accommodate up to 16 players but they should be big enough to support more.
343 Industries is doing investigations on increased player counts beyond 16 players for Halo MCC!
Up to 40-60 players potentially. pic.twitter.com/Lh9kWZg0Ch— Mint Blitz (@MintBlitz) June 22, 2021
In an Xbox stream, 343 Industries producer Sean Swidersky has teams look into “increased player counts above 16” within the collection. “Halo is epic, and if we can add more people… to go higher than 16 people, hell, go up to 40, 60, that’d be wild,” notes Swidersky.
From what it seems, Swidersky is hinting that the work for a higher player count shouldn’t be a problem. The sizes for Halo maps are big enough to handle up to even double the current limit. It doesn’t seem that it will throw off game balance too.
The problem that will come from such addition should be performance client-wise. While server-side will be fine and dandy, older consoles may not have enough juice to run more players.
343 does not want to leave players behind
With the devs of Halo: The Master Chief Collection trying to increase player count, the problem lies generally with older systems. MCC is still available in past generations of consoles, specifically the Xbox One. It also has very low system requirements.
With that said, more players will put a heavier strain on low-powered systems. Not only can this be a problem, it may also isolate players who are using low-spec devices. Even then, Halo having more than 16 players should be quite the treat.
Halo is a franchise that will likely do well with a multitude of extra players. Its closest analog on the Sony side should be Planetside 2, which boasts up to 2000 players per map. 60 should work as a sweet spot for players who want solid action.
60-player support would be perfect especially for modders looking to make sprawling arenas. All the game needs to add are bigger maps and a way for it to not break consoles.
Adding a higher player count to Halo: The Master Chief Collection should add more to its lifespan. The newer Halo, Halo Infinite, however, won’t be getting a battle royale.
Featured image courtesy of Xbox/Youtube Screenshot