Halo Online Trailer: Free-to-Play Halo Coming to PC in Russia

343 Industries has announced Halo Online is coming to Russia as an exclusive, free-to-play and online Halo experience for PC.

The Spartan gurus at 343 Industries have announced via Halo Waypoint that Russian gamers will be getting a free-to-play multiplayer game coming to PC in the form of Halo Online. This multiplayer- and Russia-only PC game will be launching a closed beta this spring in a partnership between 343 Industries, Saber Interactive and Innova Systems. Halo Online features an optimized and modified version of the Halo 3 engine geared towards lower-end PC usage. There will be no story or single-player campaign mode in Halo Online, but it will have a training facility-like environment, called the Anvil, where Spartans can practice their skills and perfect their headshots.

In a Q&A portion of the announcement, 343 Industries representatives claim that there is no specific launch window in mind for Halo Online after its closed beta testing period. They're doing this to try and expand the Halo scene to Russian gamers who might not have access to the high-end PC hardware that many players do in the West. As of now, there are no plans to bring Halo Online to the Xbox One, Xbox 360, North America or Europe. Given that it was built from Halo 3 and we have The Master Chief Collection, we're not at a major loss if this never hits the West. This is a similar motion to Activision's Call of Duty Online, a multiplayer-only, free-to-play and PC-only version of the game that is exclusive to China.