Halo Studios will add Firefight, the four-player cooperative player-versus-environment mode, to Halo: Campaign Evolved in a free update this winter, according to a post published on Halo Waypoint. The post gives no release date beyond the season.

The same text ran on Xbox Wire on 12 November, credited to Tahir Hasangjekaj, Director of Competitive Engagement at Halo Studios. Neither post names the platforms the update will cover.

“For nearly two decades, Firefight has been a Halo favorite, challenging Spartans to team up, hold the line, and survive wave after wave of enemies,” the posts said. “The tradition continues this winter as we add the four-player cooperative PvE mode to Halo: Campaign Evolved in a free update.”

What the free update adds

Firefight puts a team of up to four players against successive waves of enemies. It is being added to a game whose store listing describes it as a remake of the campaign from Halo: Combat Evolved.

The update brings new maps and, in the wording of both posts, “plenty of weapons to help even the odds.” Neither post puts a number on the maps or the weapons, and neither says how the mode is unlocked or how long a session runs.

Both posts describe the content as a free update, with no separate purchase mentioned. Beyond the maps and weapons, no scoring rules, difficulty settings or matchmaking options are described.

Game Informer lists Halo: Campaign Evolved on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC, with a release date of 28 July 2026. That platform list is for the game itself. Microsoft has not said which versions receive the Firefight update, or whether it arrives on all of them at once.

The Waypoint post is credited to Halo Studios, the Xbox Game Studios developer responsible for the Halo series, which the site says is based in Redmond, Washington.

FanFest attendees were first to play it

Both posts, dated 12 November, said the first hands-on sessions took place that evening at Xbox FanFest. “We’re kicking things off tonight at XBOX FanFest, where attendees will be the first to jump in and experience Firefight across new maps and armed with plenty of weapons to help even the odds,” the posts said.

The standfirst on the Xbox Wire version said FanFest attendees “will be the first to go hands-on with Firefight today.” Game Informer, which carried the announcement the same day under Marcus Stewart’s byline, described FanFest as a “global multi-city event.” The two official posts do not name cities or dates for the event.

The Firefight announcement was one of several made that day. An Xbox Wire roundup published alongside it was titled “Thanks for 25 Years, XBOX Players — From Wolfenstein 3 and Halo Firefight to Classic XBOX Games on PC: Everything Announced Today.”

More details promised at Halo Fest in Seattle

“And there’s more on the way,” the posts said. “We’ll be sharing additional details about this free update at Halo Fest, happening December 12-13 in Seattle, WA, where fans attending the event will also have a chance to play Firefight throughout the weekend.”

That makes Halo Fest, on 12 to 13 December and about a month after the announcement, the next point at which Microsoft has said it will share more information about the mode. It is not a release date for the free update, whose only stated timing remains “this winter.” Fans at the Seattle event will be able to play Firefight across the weekend, according to the posts.

The announcement sits inside a wider anniversary push, which both posts close on. “We can’t wait to see you all at Halo Fest and to celebrate 25 years of Halo and XBOX together!” they said. The Xbox Wire post is filed under the site’s XBOX 25 tag, and the Waypoint version under Halo25Together.

The anniversary has run through Xbox hardware as well as software. Make Tech Easier has covered the numbered Xbox Series X25 console built for the occasion, and buyers who missed the first run have been tracking Series X25 restocks since.

Until Halo Fest, the confirmed detail is limited: a wave-based cooperative mode for up to four players, new maps and weapons, no extra cost, and a window of “this winter.” A date and the platform rollout have not been given.