Microsoft has printed a brand new Halo: Campaign Evolved cinematic story trailer that, oddly, is labelled as having been captured on PS5 Professional.
The attention-catching footage is accessible to observe now beneath, and is clearly labelled as displaying the sport’s PlayStation model from the beginning. Why has Microsoft performed this? Positive, PS5 Professional is essentially the most highly effective console {hardware} out there at current, however it’s hardly a very good search for Xbox to have its flagship franchise operating on Sony’s machine. Why not seize it on a brilliant high-end PC, if Microsoft actually needed to point out the sport at its greatest?
Discussing the trailer on social media, The Verge’s Tom Warren has hinted that the clip “would have made extra sense if it was initially presupposed to be a part of Sony’s State of Play” — a suggestion that makes quite a lot of sense.
The query then is why, if this was meant as a State of Play reveal, it by no means made the minimize.
Did Sony ditch the trailer after listening to that Xbox had U-turned on a PS5 port for Gears of Conflict: E-Day? Or did Microsoft pull the trailer from Sony’s present itself, within the information it needed to lean into the idea of Xbox sport exclusivity in its personal present? IGN has contacted Microsoft for remark, and can replace if we hear extra.
In fact, Halo: Campaign Evolved remains to be coming to PS5, alongside PC and Xbox, when it launches on July 28. Microsoft has stated it is not going to pull the PS5 variations of any video games previously-confirmed for Sony’s machine — which might be a tough factor to do anyway, with pre-orders already out there.
Talking final night time, Xbox chief content material officer Matt Booty stated that any additional Xbox exclusives past Gears of Conflict: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution could be determined on a “case-by-case foundation” and confirmed on the similar time a sport was given a public launch date.
That stated, Booty cautioned that multiplayer and live-service video games would all stay multiplatform, as would something introduced for PS5 beforehand. And, in fact, every thing will nonetheless additionally come to PC. What number of video games will truly change into Xbox exclusives? It stays to be seen, although Microsoft confirmed extra video games for PS5 final night time (State of Decay 3, Spyro: A Realm Reborn and Senua) than the 2 it dominated out.
For all of Microsoft’s bulletins, make sure to meet up with every thing introduced on the Xbox Showcase 2026, together with our greatest look but at Fable and extra.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s Information Editor. You possibly can attain Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or discover him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social