Xbox Gaming Studios Increases Halo: The Master Chief Collection Price by more that 350% on Steam

The Halo: Master Chief Collection has seen a massive price hike of 372.5% on Steam for Indian PC gamers, with the cost rising to Rs. 3349 from Rs. 899. According to recent reports by Twitter/X user @Slim, the price hike happened after three years of the Master Chief Collection's arrival on Valve's digital platform. Rishi Alwani further reinforced the fact by delivering reports that state the broken payment gateways for digital purchases on Xbox. Alwani also mentioned the non-existent presence at retail that has affected the cost in the long run. With the Master Chief Collection price rising by a large margin, gamers have a lot to express about Microsoft's recent move.

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Halo: The Master Chief Collection Sees Price Hike on Steam After Three Years for Indian PC Gamers 

Alongside The Master Chief Collection, Microsoft also took the liberty to hike up the cost for Halo: Infinite in recent weeks. The campaign for Infinite is available for 4,999 INR on Steam. Despite the multiplayer being free-to-play for gamers, one must pay almost triple the price when trying out the single-player when compared to its original pricing in 2021. 

That said, The Master Chief Collection's price hike has garnered a lot of attention among fans. The three-year-old collection was a fan favorite for a long time since it delivered multiple campaigns alongside a solid multiplayer experience to both veteran and new Halo fans. Moreover, the enhanced and improved visuals for the original Halo titles were critically acclaimed by the community. The original price was affordable for most gamers; however, the new hike has made a massive impact on Steam for many reasons. This hike also hints at further hikes for more games by Xbox Games Studios shortly; however, fans will have to wait for official news for such titles. 

What Does The Price Hike Mean for Halo: Master Chief Collection and Other Microsoft Games on Steam?

Recent reports by @Slim on Twitter/X also suggest that the Valve suggested price is 1600 INR for The Mater Chief Collection on Steam. Fans across the internet are concerned regarding the new cost as it has also affected more and more titles in the past few months. Games like Elden Ring and Armored Core also saw a big hike due to the recent currency changes.

Fans are concerned that this will set a new precedent for game pricing in India and make games that much more inaccessible on platforms such as Steam. Larger speculation is that this is perhaps is Microsoft's way to funnel users to Xbox Game Pass from Steam, pricing the games in their catalog extremely high everywhere else.