Talking Point: 10 Years On, It's Been A Mighty Turnaround For Halo: Master Chief Collection

All the way back in 2014, Microsoft had a killer lineup planned for the second year of Xbox One. The team had the likes of Forza Horizon 2 and Sunset Overdrive bringing brand-new experiences to players at the start of the last generation, but it was one title in particular that led the charge for Xbox that year - Halo: The Master Chief Collection. And, well, 10 years later we've been thinking about just how far this collection of classics has come since late 2014.

If you cast your mind all the way back to that year in Xbox land, there was tons of hype behind Halo: MCC - and why wouldn't there be?! We were getting a jam-packed collection of classic Halo games coming to a console that, at the time, didn't support backwards compatibility - for just $60. Not only that, but 343 Industries was working on an innovative system that allowed players to completely mix and match different campaign levels, multiplayer maps, you name it... into custom playlists.

Of course, the game's launch day story is as well-told as any in the world of Xbox; Halo: The Master Chief Collection just didn't work properly on release. Sure, it was an okay experience if you merely wanted to tackle the game's campaigns again in solo play at higher frame rates, but multiplayer was completely broken - across both campaign co-op and PvP matches. To top it off, the game took months and months to be properly fixed - it was a PR nightmare for 343 and Team Xbox at the time.