Halo 5 Multiplayer Beta arrives today

The Halo 5 Multiplayer Beta has been available for those enrolled in the Xbox Live Dashboard Preview Program, as well as for media for a little over a week.  But today, anyone who purchased Halo: The Master Chief Collection can access the Halo 5 Multiplayer Beta and get a taste of what the future of Halo looks and plays like.

The beta will be available at 9 AM Pacific | 11 AM Central | 12 PM Eastern time.

The Halo 5 Multiplayer Beta will be running between today and January 18th.  Microsoft and 343 have plans to roll out new content throughout the 3-week period, which includes access to more maps, modes, and weapons each week.

We got a chance to test drive the multiplayer beta recently, you can find our thoughts on the next Halo here.

Halo 5 is due for release on the Xbox One in Fall 2015.  This beta has an unprecedented length of lead time for a public test.  Almost a full year out, 343 is clearly looking to get fan feedback, calling this a “work-in-progress snapshot of a game in production.”

Halo fans have had their fill of content this holiday season.  While the release of Halo: The Master Chief Collection was hindered by network issues and other problems with the game, the most recent updates have added even more content (Spartan Ops) to the already massive offering, as well as stabilization fixes for matchmaking problems.

To make up for the rocky launch, Microsoft will be adding Halo 3: ODST to The Master Chief Collection free of charge.