343 says Halo 5 Windows port 'within the bounds of reason'

343 Industries director Frank O’Connor has stated that there is 'plenty of chance' that the company's latest Halo game could be coming to Windows PCs in the near future.

Halo, originally developed by Bungie as a spiritual successor to first-person sci-fi shooter Marathon, was turned into a Microsoft exclusive late in the day - a deal which turned out to be a great move on Microsoft's part. The original game proved a box-shifter for the company's Xbox console, and it sequel Halo 2 was even more popular. Since then, Microsoft has been concentrating solely on using the franchise to boost sales of its Xbox family of consoles: while Halo and Halo 2 would both be ported to and released for Windows, the mainstream franchise entries since have been Xbox 360 and Xbox One exclusives.

That could be set to change, however, with 343 Industries director Frank O'Connor dropping heavy hints. Speaking on live video to GamesRadar, O'Conner claimed that 'There is plenty of chance that Halo 5 could appear on the PC' following its release on Microsoft's latest Xbox One console. 'We developed the game on an Intel platform. It wouldn’t be the hardest thing in the world to move it to PC and take advantage of PC stuff.'

O'Connor stopped short of an outright announcement, however, stating that there was 'nothing to announce at this point, but it’s absolutely within the bounds of reason' for the franchise to make a long-awaited return to PCs.

For Microsoft, it could be a risky move. Halo sells consoles, and the company's Xbox One is already struggling to compete against Sony's best-selling PlayStation 4. On the other hand, the company is working to position Windows 10 with its DirectX 12 API as the future of gaming, and having Halo come to the platform could boost its efforts considerably.