Halo 4 PC Testing Begins Today, Multiplayer Crossplay and Other New Features Included

343 Industries previously hinted it was coming this month, and now it’s official – the first Halo 4 PC test flight launches today! This beta will give testers the opportunity to try out all of Halo 4’s modes, including Campaign, Multiplayer, Firefight, Forge, and Spartan Ops. All the multiplayer modes, with the exception of Spartan Ops, support crossplay.

In order to get in on this initial Halo 4 flight, you’ll have to be a Halo Insider. You can sign up for that here, but it’s probably too late to get in on this round of testing. If you are a Halo Insider, you’ll likely be getting an invitation email. If you don’t get an email, you can sign in here to get your code. Here are some of the new features Microsoft is promising for the Halo 4 flight:

New Features

• Input-based matchmaking & crossplay
  • Crossplay is fully available in Firefight, Forge, and multiplayer modes
  • Campaign and Spartan Ops mode do not currently support crossplay between Xbox and PC
• Server Region Selection
• Per-Piece Customization for Halo 4
  • Visors can now be selected for Halo 4 Customization
• Forge improvements including Trait Zones, New Movement Control, and Local/World Axis Toggle
• Advanced Graphics Options (PC only)
• Text Chat Availability and Moderation
• A Field of View (FOV) option will be available for Halo 4 on Xbox One consoles
• Please provide feedback to Halo Support around performance and stability when using a non-default FOV value. These results will aid our continued work towards rolling this feature out across all titles and all Xbox platforms in the future

The PC version of Halo: The Master Chief Collection is adding games in a piecemeal way as they’re done, with Halo 3: ODST being released last month. It’s unknown when Halo 4 will get its full PC release, but given beta testing has begun, you can probably expect it before the end of the year. In other Halo MCC news, a free Xbox Series X/S upgrade will launch on November 17.