Halo: The Master Chief Collection’s Season 8 will be its last

Halo: The Master Chief Collection’s eighth season of updates will be the last one for the anthology, 343 Industries told fans on Wednesday. The studio said it is focusing on giving the 2014 collection a successful send-off so that developers may focus on the launch of Halo Infinite, coming in early December.

The final season does not mean no more updates or support, 343 said. “We have more MCC work to do and support will continue,” Tyler Davis, 343’s community manager, wrote on Wednesday. However, “as a studio it’s not ideal to run and continue shipping seasonal updates for two different multiplayer titles concurrently,” alluding to Halo Infinite, whose multiplayer will be free-to-play.

Davis said that “more content, fixes, and features” are planned for Halo: The Master Chief Collection, but “the manner in which they are delivered is expected to shift.” Beginning next year, these updates will arrive in smaller patches as opposed to the formal beginning of a new season.

“These updates will continue to be free and will include the unreleased features and content from this year,” Davis said, “as well as a continued effort to improve stability and tackle legacy fixes where possible.”

Seasonal content and updates were added to Halo: The Master Chief Collection’s multiplayer beginning in December 2019. The first season lasted about six months, subsequent seasons have run two to three months. Season 7: Elite began June 23, with Season 8: Mythic, expected after the fall begins.

Season 8 will implement Custom Game Browser support for the collection’s Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 3; will add Icebox (from Halo Online) to Halo 3; and a slew of new pose customizations, armor permutations, visor colors, and other options.

Davis wrote that players have understandable questions as far as what this means for challenges, season points, the Exchange, and other seasonal features. “We’re working through more detailed plans for the future of MCC and look forward to sharing more info early next year,” he said.