Microsoft confirmed on Sunday that Halo: Campaign Evolved will arrive on July 28, 2026, and that Premium Edition and Collector’s Edition owners will be able to jump in up to five days early beginning July 23.
The release spans Xbox Series S / X, PC and PS5, and pre-orders are open now through XBOX, Steam and PlayStation, with the Collector’s Edition available via HaloWaypoint. Every edition ships with Operation: METEORITE, a new three-mission prequel set one year before the events of the original game that sends Master Chief and Sgt. Johnson behind enemy lines aboard a Covenant research vessel.
Halo Studios bills the remake as a visual and technical upgrade built in Unreal Engine 5, promising high-resolution 4K assets, revised animations, remastered music and re-recorded voice work. Microsoft framed the project as a modern evolution of the original campaign and showed a new missions trailer and a first look at Operation: METEORITE at the Xbox Games Showcase.
Operation: METEORITE is being presented as a compact but consequential prologue: three missions that put players in clandestine UNSC operations, fighting alongside UNSC forces, pushing through Covenant-controlled spaces, confronting a Brute Berserker and — notably — bringing combat into space. The story was developed in collaboration with Troy Denning and ties into a short digital story, Halo: Hungry Buzzards, included in the game’s digital extras.
The remake includes the full original 10-mission campaign plus three brand-new prequel missions and some cross-era additions. Halo Studios is adding weapons from later titles, such as the energy sword and the battle rifle, and expanding combat set pieces to include space engagements. Players will be able to play two-player local split-screen co-op and up to four-player online co-op across the campaign.
Pre-order incentives are immediate. Every pre-order comes with the Foundry Armory Pack containing the Classic 2001 Mark V Armor skin, Classic 2001 Assault Rifle skin, Gilded Onyx Armor style and Gilded Onyx Assault Rifle style. The Premium Edition includes up to five days early access starting July 23, the Alpha Halo Armory Pack (five Master Chief armor skins and six weapon skins) and a Digital Story & Art Collection that bundles Halo: Hungry Buzzards, The Art of Halo: Campaign Evolved digital artbook and a digital manual inspired by the original 2001 game manual.
The Collector’s Edition folds in all Premium content plus physical extras: a 12-inch Dark Horse Master Chief statue, a light-up LED Cortana chip, a Steelbook, three original concept art prints, a physical reimagined game manual and a game disc for Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5; Steam’s Collector’s Edition will ship as a code only. The exact platform distribution of those physical items and how they pair with digital storefronts were shown alongside the announcement.
The friction in the announcement is simple: Halo: Campaign Evolved is not a straight remake. Microsoft and Halo Studios have layered new missions, later-era weapons and even space combat onto the original campaign framework. That expansion promises new ways to play but also raises questions about how those additions will alter pacing, challenge and the feel of the original story fans still regard as foundational.
Pre-orders are live now and the early-access window for Premium and Collector’s Edition owners opens July 23; the full release will follow on July 28 on Xbox Series S / X, PC and PS5. The clearest outstanding question is platform-level pricing and final storefront details — price points such as $69.99 and $199.99 surfaced with the reveal, but Microsoft has not published a full per-platform breakdown for Premium and Collector’s Edition pricing, a detail that will determine how broadly players take advantage of early access and physical editions.
