Halo: The Master Chief Collection PC releases led to "the largest addition of new players to the franchise since Halo 3"

Microsoft's efforts to bring classic Halo games to PC have been well worth it.

Microsoft and 343 Industries have been very happy with the response to Halo: The Master Chief Collection on PC, which culminated recently with the release of Halo 4, the last planned game to be ported to PC.

There are still no plans to bring Halo 5 over, but PC players now have access to all other Halo games, running natively on PC and taking advantage of mouse and keyboard, alongside a bevy of other PC-specific improvements.

The Master Chief Collection's performance on Steam may have given you a hint that the experiment is working, but it's always good to hear it from developers. 343 Industries studio head Bonnie Ross revealed in an end-of-year update that the re-releases on PC brought so many new players to the series.

In fact, according to Ross, this was Halo's largest influx of new players since Halo 3. This is certainly good news, as it proves that PC was an untapped market for Halo.

It's also a record that will likely be broken when Halo Infinite releases in fall 2021, as the upcoming game's multiplayer mode will be - for the first time - free-to-play on all platforms.