HCS takes away crowdfunding from Halo World Championship prize pool

Less than a week before the start of Halo Infinite’s first World Championship tournament, HCS has announced that the event’s $1 million base prize pool will no longer be complemented by crowdfunding as previously promised. The sudden announcement left pro players upset and quite a few of them complained publicly, venting their anger induced by the controversial news on social media.

All previous major Halo tournaments were matched directly by crowdfunding sources, resulting in almost half a million dollar prize pool increases throughout the event. A similar crowdfunding bonus was also promised for this year’s World Championship, but that promise was withdrawn at the last second. Instead, HCS claims it will be channeling the funds into new initiatives.

Community and players are angry

The frustration was evident among many Halo players. FaZe Eric “Snip3down” Wrona specifically stated that he wished he hadn’t been lied to when deciding to switch from Apex Legends to Halo Infinite, claiming he would otherwise have never left the battle royale.

Sentinels captain Paul “SnakeBite” Duarte was also upset by the sudden change but said he wasn’t surprised considering the state of the game. Like many others, he remained upbeat about the event as a whole, stating that his frustration was caused by how the event was presented just a few days before the announcement. 

Furthermore, FaZe Clan’s Tyler “Spartan” Ganza, a player who had often spoken out about the state of Halo Infinite and the HCS, called the announcement “but a slap in the face”, adding that he is still grateful for the opportunity to participate. OpTic Gaming’s Matthew “FormaL” Piper simply responded to the post with “disappointed, to say the least.”

THe funds will be used for boosting the Halo scene

Despite the outrage, 343 Industries’ Esports Lead Tashi believes that removing crowdfunding from World Championship will serve the scene better in the long run. “It’s about taking a wider approach to have a greater overall impact,” he explained in a Twitter response, adding that the funds will be invested in strengthening the scene. The official HCS announcement provided even more detail, highlighting FaZe’s success and eUnited tournaments as a foundation to build on next year.

“Supporting partnered teams in this way has proven to be a powerful route to take as we can elevate the work that they’re doing, and even fill in gaps in the roadmap with all new tournaments,” the post reads. “Going forward, we’re going to continue this new philosophy in an effort to bolster the roadmap and add new events all together, rather than boosting what are already very large prize pools.”

Broken promise

The HCS will be detailing the new roadmap for Halo Infinite’s second competitive season at the Halo World Championship 2022, set to kick off with the play-in round on Thursday, October 20, before deciding the winner of the trophy and the $400,000 main prize pool on Sunday, October 23. 

However, the positive impact of crowdfunding on the Halo scene doesn’t change the fact that the promise was broken. Spartan said on Twitter: “I would understand if they did that next year, but advertising the worlds with $1m and crowdfunding all year round, only to tell us seven days before the event that it’s not being crowdfunded, would be fairly lame.”