Today, 343 Industries announced that the Halo 3: ODST's Firefight mode will be coming to Halo: The Master Chief Collection this year. Halo 3: ODST was added to The Master Chief Collection back in May 2015, but its famed Firefight co-op mode was not a part of the remastered game. The news comes just over a month after Halo 2 was added to The Master Chief Collection's PC port, showing that 343 is hard at work to provide the definitive, complete Halo experience to players.
Halo 3: ODST originally released for the Xbox 360 in 2009 and was generally received favorably. However, there were were complaints at the time about the depth and replayability of the title, with some critics saying it felt more like an expansion to Halo 3, as opposed to a full, standalone title (which it was hardly was, having been built on the same engine and sharing the mainline game's assets). However one addition that was well-received by players and added replayability was the Firefight mode, a cooperative mode that pitted a team of 4 players against increasingly difficult waves of Covenant. Firefight added a new layer of gameplay in Halo 3: ODST and was highly influential at the time, so its exclusion from The Master Chief Collection version was seen as a disappointment by players who previously enjoyed it.
However, five years after Halo 3: ODST's sterilized Master Chief Collection port, 343 announced on Twitter that the mode would finally be coming to The Master Chief Collection, completing the Halo 3: ODST experience. Earlier today, the official Halo twitter account tweeted a brief video announcing the pending addition of the game mode, accompanied by nostalgic gameplay footage from the original game. While there was no concrete date in the video or tweet, the launch window for Firefight's arrival is set for "later this summer."
343 has been continuously working on Halo for quite some time now since original creator Bungie's departure, both on The Master Chief Collection and upcoming entries to the franchise, always secretive about what they have in the works. Since Halo 3: ODST was added to The Master Chief Collection without Firefight, fans have constantly asked for the mode. True to form, 343 never commented on the issue, instead opting to work silently and surprise players.
While the first year or so of The Master Chief Collection were not as smooth as players and 343 would have liked, the compilation has made serious strides in the six years it's been on the market. The addition of Firefight to Halo 3: ODST is further proof that 343 is intent on listening to fans and always moving forward. The way the studio has been able to juggle The Master Chief Collection, Halo 5: Guardians, Halo: Infinite, and a currently untitled Halo project has been nothing short of impressive, and their labor will hopefully continue to bear fruit for Xbox players moving into the next console generation.
Source: 343 Industries/Twitter