‘Halo 5’ Level Editing Tool Comes to PC, But Not the Actual Game

Microsoft and Halo developer 343 Industries today announced Forge – Halo 5: Guardians Edition for Windows 10.

Don't get too excited. I know that name sounds like Microsoft and 343 will finally let us play Xbox One's defining first-person shooter on the PC, but that's not the case.

Forge, as hardcore Halo fans already know, is the name of an in-game multiplayer level editor. It lets players create their own arenas and set their own rules with an intuitive interface, then share and play those levels with friends. This is what Microsoft is bringing to the PC. Players will be able to design levels on Windows 10—for free—then share those levels and play them on Xbox One. It's hard to complain about Microsoft releasing this powerful tool on PC for free, but it also falls short of what PC players really want: The full version of Halo 5: Guardians.

The Windows 10 version of Forge will let players design levels with a mouse and keyboard, which sounds like a way better interface for this kind of tool. Even better, since Forge – Halo 5: Guardians Edition is free, anyone who's interested can take a shot at designing a level. As games like Doom that support user generated content have taught us, this usually leads to great things.

"The team has continued to wonder what we'd get if we could put Forge in the hands of as many people as possible, and making it free on Windows 10 literally gives the chance to anyone who wants to jump in and try their hands at building a cool new map for Halo 5," 343's user generated content director Tom French said in a statement. "I'm excited to see what the future content from the community will bring!"

The bummer is that Microsoft continues to get really close to bringing the new Halo games to PC without ever actually pulling the trigger. The first game, as you might remember, released on PC as well as the Xbox. Microsoft is also happy to bring a PC version of Halo to Russia, but not the rest of the world.

"As we've shared previously, we do not have plans to launch Halo 5: Guardians on Windows 10," a Microsoft spokesperson told Motherboard in an email. "We are focused on building Halo Wars 2 for Windows 10 and Xbox One. Releasing Forge for Windows 10 for free will open up endless opportunities to the PC community to build and play Halo 5: Guardians multiplayer content, while also allowing them to share their creations with gamers on Xbox One as well."

Head of Xbox Phil Spencer's not super convincing explanation for this is that Halo 5 was designed for the Xbox One, so that's where it will stay. Microsoft has said nothing about eventually bringing Halo 5 properto PC, but boy, it sure does sound like it could do so any day now.

Microsoft said that it will share more information about Forge – Halo 5: Guardians Edition for Windows 10 in the coming months.