Halo: The Master Chief Collection has gotten a surprise update this week on Xbox and PC, with the team at Halo Studios focusing on an upgrade to the game's 'Exchange' feature here in February 2026.
The Exchange is a post-launch MCC feature where players can earn 'Spartan Points' to grab gear customisations - and in this new update, "almost all of the available Exchange content will be available to grab in perpetuity". Basically, most of the gear in The Exchange is now available to grab with no time limits.
"The implementation of the Exchange gave players a new way to unlock gear. Play the game, earn Spartan Points, redeem said points for sweet unlocks. Effective today, almost all of the available Exchange content will be available to grab in perpetuity. That means that if there’s something in the Exchange that you’ve wanted, there’s a good chance it’s there now waiting for you."
The team does note that the "few remaining limited drops" will crop up "on quarterly rotations", so you'll have to keep an eye out for those if what you're after still isn't available in this expanded Exchange system. Some of those rotations are detailed in the patch notes, where Halo Studios also reveals that a set of customisation items that have only appeared in the game once are now being gifted to "anyone who simply logs into Halo: The Master Chief Collection at any point".
It's probably worth a cheeky MCC login just to grab that gear then, and for the full lowdown on this surprise update from Halo Studios, feel free to check out the Steam link down below.