A change to Halo 5‘s Amazon listing points to a possible PC port of the 2015 shooter.
As noted by PC Gamer, the header image for Halo 5‘s Xbox One listing on Amazon features text that reads “Xbox One Console Exclusive.” That’s not really a big deal until you realise that the text on the box originally read “Only on Xbox One.”
Microsoft hasn’t confirmed that there’s any significance to this alteration, but it’s the fact that it’s so seemingly insignificant that has us curious why anyone would bother to make this change at all. We don’t imagine that Amazon would just change the listing to a three-year-old game on a whim, and we don’t imagine that Microsoft would just casually decide that it’s time to update the images for Halo 5‘s box art on Amazon just because they like this wording a little better.
In fact, so far as conspiracy theories go, we’re having a tough time finding a logical explanation for this change that doesn’t hint at Halo 5 being available on more than just the Xbox One in the near future. It’s worth noting that the only other games to feature this wording are titles that are part of the Play Anywhere program (such as Sea of Thieves). That is to say they’re games you can purchase on Xbox One/PC and play on the other platform.
Why would Microsoft request that the wording on this box be changed now if they haven’t announced a version of Halo 5 that isn’t available for anything other than Xbox One? It’s possible that they’re trying to prepare for that moment by alerting potential new players that there might soon be another way to play Halo 5. Of course, that’s assuming that this change means anything substantial at all.
For what it’s worth, 343 has previously stated that they’d be open to a PC version of Halo 5 and that it wouldn’t be particularly difficult to port the game to that platform. Microsoft has also alluded to a Halo game for PC after they shut down a popular fan mod that allowed Halo fans to play Halo multiplayer on PC.