Quadrant, the UK-based esports organisation founded by British F1 driver Lando Norris (pictured), say it’s a huge moment in their history to join the Halo Championship Series (HCS).
Quadrant are the latest team to join the HCS programme as a partner team, and will see branded skins and unlockables added to Halo Infinite, and will be involved in event activations and hosted tournaments.
Founder and CEO Lando Norris will be wearing a Master Chief inspired race helmet (pictured) in all sessions of the Singapore Grand Prix (running from September 30th to October 2nd 2022) to commemorate the occasion.
A 1:2 scale version of the helmet will be released simultaneously and sold across the GP weekend as Quadrant looks to bridge the gap between both the esports and motorsport worlds. Quadrant skins and unlockables will also be available early in Year 2 of the HCS season in 2023.
“This is a huge moment for Quadrant – to be rubbing shoulders with some of the biggest names in esports in just our first year as a competitive esports organisation says a lot about the work we have been doing behind the scenes.”
Jamie MacLaurin, Quadrant
The move comes after several organisations exited Halo esports, including Xset, Torrent and Pioneers, and some have been critical of Halo as an esport over the past year.
Halo developer 343 said earlier in 2022 that for year two of the HCS, it’s going to be adding ‘one to three’ more partnered teams into the programme, so it’s possible one or two other orgs may join.
The Halo HCS esports push was announced last year, and Quadrant joins existing HCS partner teams such as Cloud9, FaZe Clan, G2, Fnatic, eUnited, Spacestation Gaming, Navi, Optic and Sentinels.
Quadrant were launched in late 2020 and Quadrant signed a Halo team a year later. Their roster today remains largely the same, with all-French side Sebastien ‘TchiK’ Darriet, Norwen ‘SLG’ Le Galloudec, Paul ‘Nurix’ Villemont and Jordan ‘Shad’ Boyaval (who replaced Sonny ‘Fragxr’ Marchaland earlier this year).
Quadrant spoke about the move to UK host and caster Dan Gaskin:
Lando Norris, Founder & CEO of Quadrant, commented: “It’s really exciting for us to announce that we’ve become a partnered team in Halo. The whole team has worked incredibly hard to get to this stage, and I’m really proud of the success our roster has had this season. I’ve watched almost every tournament game and scrim over the past few months and it’s been awesome to be a small part of their journey in the HCS so far.
“Being able to see our own Quadrant skins and items available in-game is surreal and for our first game to be such a historic title as Halo just shows how far we have come as a company in such a short space of time.”
Tahir “Tashi” Hasandjekic, Esports and Viewership Lead at 343 Industries/Microsoft, added: “The initial success of Halo Infinite esports has been unprecedented in the franchise’s history and we’re thrilled to be adding a team with the calibre of Quadrant, who have already invested heavily in the Halo community and ecosystem.
“Their driven leadership has a clear vision, and we believe in the long-term potential for this partnership to elevate both Quadrant and Halo Infinite by delivering epic entertainment to fans around the globe.”
Jamie MacLaurin, chief gaming officer of Quadrant, commented: “We are delighted to have been accepted onto the HCS partner programme. This is a huge moment for Quadrant – to be rubbing shoulders with some of the biggest names in esports in just our first year as a competitive esports organisation says a lot about the work we have been doing behind the scenes.
“We hope to bring something unique to the programme and we look forward to working closely with the Halo franchise in the months and years ahead.”
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.
