Classic competitive FPS Halo is making its return to esports with a host of announcements building some hype this week, including partnerships with tournament organisers ESL and London-based Faceit.
ESL Gaming, through DreamHack and ESL Australia, was selected to be one of the tournament operators responsible for competitions within the Halo Championship Series (HCS) in 2021 and 2022.
UK pro CoD players Joshh and Dqvee have also announced they will be moving across to Halo, as reported by HCS Intel.
The multiplayer beta for Halo Infinite went live earlier this week on PC, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One, and details of the 2021-22 HCS season were revealed.
This HCS will feature four competing regions: North America, Mexico, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. With a prize pool starting at $3m (which will increase through crowdfunding), developer 343 Industries promises this HCS will be the “biggest, most robust, most open, and most competitive Halo esports program and ecosystem ever built in the 20-year history of this franchise”.
The DreamHack brand will produce the Regionals and Supers competitions in Europe, as well as a North American competition on-site at DreamHack Anaheim in February 2022. ESL Australia will also operate the Regionals and Supers competitions in Australia and New Zealand.
Each of the four regions will have their own cosmetic bundle featuring a nameplate, emblem, Sniper Rifle coating, as well as visor for 900 credits. When gamers purchase this bundle, a ‘significant’ portion of the revenue will go to the tournament operator in that region.
Then, London-based Faceit has been named the the official online tournament platform, hosting all HCS online tournaments for Halo Infinite.
Faceit has a longstanding relationship with 343 Industries and vast experience with Halo having previously managed online tournaments for Halo 5 and MCC Pro Series.
In an effort to improve the online tournament experience for players, as well as expand on the opportunities that the Faceit platform enables, 343 Industries will be integrating Faceit’s tournament APIs into Halo Infinite in the future, which will allow for ‘a more seamless tournament experience for players so they can focus on playing and competing’.
“This will be the biggest, most robust, most open, and most competitive Halo esports program and ecosystem ever built in the 20-year history of this franchise.”
343 Industries
Faceit will also be investing in and launching the FPL (Faceit Pro League) for Halo Infinite.
The HCS Open Series kick off tonight for Australia and New Zealand and this weekend for Europe, North America and Mexico. The full breakdown of Faceit tournaments can be found here.
UK caster Dan Gaskin and Irish caster Richie ‘SherzyOne’ Sheridan are also getting involved:
And experienced UK player – Snipedrone – won the first EU Halo Infinite tournament with French players Shaady, Sica and Lqgend:
His team, Cartel, also won the EU HCS Raleigh Open Qualifier, and are currently looking for an organisation to represent.
There will also be Twitch drops – more details are on the way next month including how players can link their accounts. The HCS Kickoff Major will take place on December 17th to 19th, offering a bunch of drops.
There’s also partnered teams and regional bundles now available in the store.
A Halo esports handbook and code of conduct have also been published.
Finally, eight in-person events will take place across all four regions, including the Halo World Championship in Seattle on October 20th to 23rd 2022.
There’s more on the Halo Championship Series announcements on Halo Waypoint.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
