The collection includes the first six main installments in the Halo franchise released between 2001 and 2012, originally developed by Bungie and 343 Industries.

Each game received numerous graphical and performance enhancements, including increases to resolution and framerate, while Halo 2 was fully remastered as Halo 2 Anniversary, receiving a full redesign of its art, audio and new cinematic cutscenes produced by Blur Studio to commemorate the game's tenth anniversary.

[5] The Collection multiplayer includes Mission Setlists, curated lists of levels selected from throughout the series.

[5] Coinciding with the release of The Master Chief Collection, 343 Industries developed the Halo Channel, an application for the Xbox One and Windows.

[17] Terminals also gave 343 Industries the opportunity to introduce Spartan Locke, a main character in Halo 5: Guardians.

[18][19] Several voice actors reprised their roles including Keith David as the Arbiter, John DiMaggio as the Heretic Leader, and Tim Dadabo as 343 Guilty Spark.

[17] Once the Halo 2: Anniversary project was green-lit, executive producer Dan Ayoub at 343 Industries reached out to Max Hoberman of Certain Affinity for assistance on the multiplayer component.

[17] The team found it difficult to decide how many of the original 24 maps to redesign and eventually settled on six – two small, two medium, and two large – to provide some variation.

[17] Along with the visual upgrade, Halo 2's original score was re-recorded with the San Francisco Symphony at Skywalker Sound studio.

[20] On June 9, 2014, Halo: The Master Chief Collection was announced at the Electronic Entertainment Expo with a trailer titled "Hunter and the Hunted".

[21][23][24] The trailer recreates a moment from Halo 2, in which the Master Chief rides a bomb into a Covenant ship.

[22] Several other trailers were released prior to launch, showcasing the updated cinematics and Terminals featured in Halo 2: Anniversary, and gameplay from all titles across the collection.

[17][28] In August 2014, UK retailer Game revealed two special editions of The Master Chief Collection.

[29] In October 2014, Microsoft announced a white Master Chief Collection Xbox One bundle for Brazil and other "select markets".

[40] Halo: Nightfall—a series of weekly, episodic digital videos directed by Sergio Mimica-Gezzan and produced by Ridley Scott—launched soon after the collection was released.

[41] With the release of The Master Chief Collection, Microsoft and 343 Industries announced an official esports league, the Halo Championship Series (HCS).

343 Industries partnered with the Electronic Sports League, live-streaming platform Twitch, and other tournament organisers to foster the competitive multiplayer community in Halo.

[42] In April 2018, the MCC Insider Program was launched to playtest upcoming changes to The Master Chief Collection, notably the various improvements to its interface and to its multiplayer modes.

[43][44] As a part of the various changes, 343 Industries introduced patches to bring back well-known Halo 2 glitches from the original Xbox version, such as sword flying in the campaign.

[44] In August 2020, 343 Industries announced that Xbox-PC crossplay will be made available by the end of 2020, based upon input-based matchmaking.

[1] Upon this announcement, 343 Industries' offices in Redmond, Washington, were overwhelmed by pizza delivery orders from anonymous users, particularly from Reddit.

[72][59] Reviews praised the graphics, frame rate, and content included in the bundle, but criticized the prominent matchmaking issues that prevented players from playing online multiplayer modes on release day.