Shortly after Halo: The Master Chief Collection limped onto the market late last year, bringing with it a hoard of technical issues that are still being ironed out to this day, developer 343 Industries made a pledge to first rectify the problems with a litany of patches and updates, before unveiling Halo 3: ODST as a token of goodwill.
Now, the studio is nearing ever-closer to reaching a point where The Master Chief Collection can finally be considered as fully functional, and has now slated the free content pack for a release in May. Alongside today’s announcement, 343 debuted a trio of screenshots from the upcoming new addition, not to mention the Relic multiplayer arena, itself poised to also release next month.
Before Halo fans herald the arrival of the long-awaited content, though, the latest patch – which weighs in at 1.6GB in size – is available to download now and will essentially lay the groundwork before the ODST campaign. Once again, matchmaking fixes are inbound, and it’s understood that 343 will implement penalties that will take into effect should players exit out of a match ahead of time, which will subsequently dock your in-game ranking accordingly.
In the interest of balance within the compilation’s multiplayer segments, the studio is said to be monitoring those who continually abuse the playlist system and “betray” their teammates by repeatedly quitting a match that isn’t seen as normal behaviour.
All Halo: The Master Chief Collection owners will be prompted to download this latest patch the next time they sign on. Expect ODST‘s campaign and the Relic multiplayer map to arrive at some point in May.