As standard with esports, The Halo Championship Series (HCS) was preparing their competitive season to focus on the latest upcoming release in the franchise, Halo Infinite. Unfortunately, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the game has been indefinitely delayed until 2021. As collateral, this has pushed back many plans for the esports league, including a deal with Esports Engine related to Halo Infinite. In the interim, HCS has amended its tournament schedule to provide competition and content to players and fans. The league will host the Halo 5 Pro Series for North America, Latin America, EMEA, and ANZ which will run between September 26th and December 12th.
HCS announced the news in a recent blog post, saying “…our focus has been on MCC. We’ve seen a great response from players, fans, and partners during this time – but we heard feedback that fans of Halo 5, especially those in other regions, were also clamoring to compete once again.” The North American series will see some new formatting, with two open tournaments where the top 16 teams with move on to the first of two Pro tournaments. These Pro tournaments will feature the same format as the MCC Pro Series, and the top 8 teams will move on to the season championship. This will culminate in a four-team single elimination bracket where the winner will be crowned Season Champion. HCS has also decided to host the series on Xbox, saying “…we feel the console experience for Halo 5 overall is more stable and reliable for large open competitions and tournaments… Additionally, only the console version features observer mode which is critical for broadcasting…”
The Halo 5 Pro Series will have a $63,000 prize pool, and stream on YouTube and Twitch. Those who wish to compete can follow HCS on Twitter to be notified when registration goes live on FACEIT. For more on the tournament, click here.