Despite initial plans, 343 Industries didn't manage to pack in the custom game browser to Halo: The Master Chief Collection with its latest seasonal update. Now, the feature is once again being readied to go ahead with public testing, and Halo: Reach is the lucky entry to first receive it.
A scale test flight will kick off on April 29, if current plans hold, and run for a week. The studio will evaluate the data to find if more work is required before sending the feature to the Master Chief Collection as a permanent addition.
Originally announced for the Collection in 2018, the feature would allow players to host, browse, and join custom servers made by players easily by simply browsing the public list of available games. 343's Design Director Max Szlagor had this to say regarding how far the custom game browser (CGB) has come since its announcement:
CGB is a big, complex feature that required a lot of critical discussion, technical evaluation, and adjustment as we added more games to MCC, upgraded the networking infrastructure, and expanded on the core game feature set. We also wanted to make sure CGB offered a unique and new way to host, find, and play the variety of games and modes available.
343 Industries is also working on implementing "enhanced game creation options, filtering, quick matching, and several ways to make it easier for friends to play together" to the custom game browser in the future. The feature will be coming out in phases, targetting each game in the Master Chief Collection. So once Halo: Reach is out of the way, expect other Halo titles to receive the same treatment in future Insider flights and updates.
