Limited Collector's Edition — metal case

A metal case, not a keep case. Item number M41-00031, UPC 805529884236.

Inside, per Wikipedia: the game, a second DVD holding a making-of documentary, an art gallery and audio tests, and an instruction booklet written from the Covenant's point of view.

Sealed launch copies of the steelbook carry the orange seal too. The reporter states that the first printing of this edition was wrapped with the same orange "DO NOT SELL BEFORE 11/09/04" sticker as the standard box. On the standard box the seal is a first-print marker because later printings dropped it; whether later printings of this steelbook exist without it is not established, so treat the seal here as evidence of a launch-day copy rather than proof of anything about a run.

A Redump verification listing dates its cover 0904 Part No. X10-60982 — September 2004 — and its Xbox LIVE two-month trial insert 0904 Part No. X10-82268. The game disc is the same dump as the standard edition.

Item numbers differ by region: M41-00031 in North America, M41-00033 on a European listing, M41-00032 reported on a UK copy.

No print position, and that is deliberate. This went on sale the same day as the standard edition, so it is a different product at launch rather than a reprint of one. Putting it second in the run would say it came later, which is false.

Its cover is the only Halo 2 part this research found with a date code attached, which is why the code is recorded here and predicted on the standard box.

Open question worth a photograph. If a sealed steelbook turns up without the orange seal, this edition had more than one printing and the second one deserves a record of its own. The reporter raised the possibility without claiming it, and no row has been created on a possibility.

Source: Desk research across public catalogs and disc databases — Brandon Green (from VGCollect, Redump, Halopedia, Wikipedia and PriceCharting, October 2026).