Halo is coming to PlayStation for the first time ever. Halo: Campaign Evolved, a ground-up remake of the 2001 shooter that started the franchise, launches July 28, 2026 on Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and PC — and it lands day one on Game Pass. For a series that defined Xbox for two decades, putting Master Chief on a Sony console is a genuine milestone.
What it is
Campaign Evolved rebuilds the original Halo: Combat Evolved campaign from the ground up in Unreal Engine 5, with HD visuals, refined controls, and an expanded arsenal of weapons, vehicles, and enemies. This is not a light remaster — it is a full remake of the campaign that launched the series, developed to run and look like a modern game while keeping the mission structure fans remember.
Multiplayer-wise, the headline addition is up to four-player online co-op, plus cross-play and cross-progression across all three platforms. So a friend on PS5 can play through the campaign with someone on Xbox or PC, carrying the same progress between systems.
The new missions: Operation METEORITE
Every edition includes three brand-new story missions under the banner Operation: METEORITE. Set one year before the events of the original game, the arc follows Master Chief and Sgt. Johnson on a covert UNSC operation aboard a Covenant research vessel — new canon slotted in ahead of the story longtime fans already know. It is the clearest sign that this is more than a nostalgia coat of paint.
The four-player co-op and cross-play matter beyond the novelty: they make a 25-year-old campaign feel current, letting a group split across Xbox, PS5, and PC play together with shared progress. For a game originally built around split-screen on a single television, jumping straight to modern online co-op across rival consoles is a striking sign of how far the series — and the industry — has moved.
Price and editions
There are three ways to buy in:
- Standard Edition — $49.99. The full remake, including Operation: METEORITE.
- Premium Edition — roughly $59.99–$69.99. Adds five days of early access starting July 23.
- Collector’s Edition — $199.99. Sold through Halo Waypoint for the dedicated crowd.
Crucially, the game launches day one into Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass, so subscribers can play it at no extra cost. That day-one Game Pass drop has become the norm for first-party launches, and it is a big part of why premium new games feel harder to justify at full price — a tension we dug into in why new games now cost $80.
Why the PlayStation launch matters
For most of its life, Halo was the reason people bought an Xbox. Bringing the campaign that started it all to PS5 is the loudest signal yet of Microsoft’s shift toward publishing its games wherever players are, rather than locking them to one box. It follows a broader industry drift away from hard platform exclusivity — the same logic behind Sony’s own moves, like PlayStation winding down game discs.
It also arrives as the console pecking order is being reshuffled, with the Nintendo Switch 2 outselling the PS5 in its first year. In that context, a marquee Xbox franchise showing up on rival hardware feels less like a stunt and more like the new reality.
What’s next
Pre-purchases are already live on Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation storefronts, with Premium buyers getting hands-on from July 23 and everyone else on July 28. If Campaign Evolved sells well on PS5, expect the conversation to shift quickly to which Halo comes to PlayStation next — and whether the franchise’s future is multiplatform by default. If you are mapping out the rest of your year, our roundup of the biggest games still coming in 2026 and 2027 puts this launch in context.
For now, the takeaway is simple: the game that built Xbox is about to be played on a PlayStation, in Unreal Engine 5, with new missions and four-player co-op — and it will not cost Game Pass subscribers a cent. (Details per Xbox, GameLuster, and TechTimes.)
Featured image: Master Chief cosplay photo by Miguel Discart, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
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