Halo: Campaign Evolved Hits “Gone Gold,” Ready to Ship Ahead of Launch
Xbox has confirmed that Halo: Campaign Evolved has gone gold, placing the project in a finished, ready-to-ship state nearly two weeks before launch. The team will still use the remaining time to address bugs and polish issues ahead of release.
Key takeaways
- Halo: Campaign Evolved has officially reached “gone gold” status from Xbox.
- The game launches on July 28, with early access starting on July 23 for pre-orders.
- PS5 will get the game too, alongside PC and Xbox Series X/S, marking the first Halo entry on a non-Microsoft platform.
- It launches without PvP modes, but includes solo, online co-op, and local co-op.
- Xbox is also preparing a new officially licensed controller for August.
Halo: Campaign Evolved is Officially Ready for Launch
While other Xbox releases like Fable have been pushed back to allow extra development time, Halo: Campaign Evolved will not follow that path. Xbox posted a short confirmation video stating the title is officially “gone gold,” arriving about two weeks ahead of its July 28 debut.
Xbox also clarified the pre-order schedule. Early access begins on Thursday, July 23, for players who pre-order the Halo: Campaign Evolved Premium Edition for $69.99 on Xbox, Steam, or the PlayStation Store. If you choose the standard edition, you’ll need to wait until Tuesday, July 28 to play.
As a remake built on Unreal Engine 5 of the 2001 release Halo: Combat Evolved, the updated version is positioned to bring refreshed visuals and added campaign modifiers designed to increase difficulty or alter gameplay in various ways.
More to do in Campaign—Plus a New Prequel
Loadout controls are straightforward: tap a weapon to cycle through it, or press the R key while dragging to adjust your selection.
Beyond the main campaign, Halo: Campaign Evolved will add three brand-new story missions set roughly one year before the events of Combat Evolved. Master Chief and Sgt. Johnson team up to take down a Covenant research ship in Operation: Meteorite. During the June 2026 Xbox Games Showcase, Halo Studios previewed that these prequel missions will lean heavily on Sgt. Johnson and will include new foes and weapons drawn from across the Halo universe. Operation: Meteorite will become available the first time players start Halo: Campaign Evolved.
Even with the “ready” milestone, Halo: Campaign Evolved has drawn attention prior to launch due to concerns about co-op requirements on PlayStation. Reports claimed that PS5 split-screen co-op would need two PlayStation Plus accounts, but Xbox clarified that this isn’t the case. Instead, each player on PS5 would only require a free PlayStation account to access the co-op mode.
Online co-op works differently. Xbox says online co-op will require PlayStation Plus on PS5 and PlayStation Plus or Xbox Game Pass on the relevant consoles, while cross-progression will be supported across all supported platforms.
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Xbox also confirmed the distribution plan for subscription players: the standard edition of Halo: Campaign Evolved will launch as a day-one title on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass. With the game already complete two weeks ahead of early access, the remaining window before players can start should be used for addressing any lingering bugs or issues.
