What the future holds for HCS?

Following the conclusion of the 2022 Halo World Championship where OpTic Gaming defeated Cloud9 in the grand final, questions concerning the future of Halo esports started emerging within the community. 

Considering the event’s viewership performance, fans are worried that the outlook is not the brightest for competitive Halo Infinite.

Low prize pool to blame?

According to Esports Charts statistics, the viewership of the recent Halo World Championship peaked at 143,585 concurrent viewers during the finals with over 1.8 million hours watched throughout the entire event. In terms of numbers, this is quite a disappointment, as the tournament’s performance did not surpass the viewership success of the Raleigh Kickoff Major, which peaked at just over 267,000 viewers. 

For the majority of big esports titles, a global championship at the end of the year usually reaches the highest levels of viewership for that particular title and that particular year. However, the same can’t be said about Halo. Many were quick to point at the event’s $1m prize pool, which did not receive any additional crowdfunding boost, arguing that the higher the prize pool, the higher the number of viewers watching the tournament. 

League expansion in Season 2

Earlier this year, 343 Industries announced the expansion of the HCS Team Partnership Program, which will include one to three teams joining the league for Season 2. Following up on the announcement during the off-season in September, Quadrant became the latest organization to partner with HCS. Meanwhile, both Pioneers and Acend announced that they were not selected to join as a partner.

Even though it is uncertain how many teams will participate in the following season, fans are hoping that the HCS will show some signs of growth. 

HCS Season 2

The HCS Season 2 will officially kick off on January 13 with the SSG Spartan Showdown hosted by Spacestation Gaming. Not many details are known about this particular tournament, however, it is known that it will feature a new Forge game mode. 

The qualifiers then start at the end of January. Only one Major has been announced thus far for the upcoming season — HCS Kickoff Major, set to take place in Charlotte, North Carolina, from February 24-26. With the considerable amount of success that HCS has gained in year 1, and despite the lower viewership, fans are hoping that HCS Season 2 will be more successful than Season 1. 

 

For those eager to see some Halo action before HCS returns, the current reigning champions OpTic Gaming will host a LAN event in Texas before the year concludes. The tournament, presented by Xbox, will take place from December 10-11 at the Arlington Esports Stadium.  

Header: HCS