343 Industries, the studio that now creates the Halo series, has announced the Halo Championship Series. 343 is looking to take control of Halo’s presence in the world of eSports by partnering with the eSports League (ESL), Twitch and various tournament organizers.
The Microsoft owned developer wants to become the sanctioning body behind Halo in eSports as well as promote, sponsor and support the events that are populated with some of the biggest Halo fans out there.
The first season is scheduled to begin shortly after the launch of Halo: The Master Chief Collection and will feature a number of competitions that will award HCS points to the top teams. At the end of the season, the teams with the most points will compete in the HCS season finals in March 2015.
The move by 343 seems to be an effort on their part to become an active part of the eSports community that has championed the Halo series for so long. In the past, the creation and management of larger videogame tournaments were created by small independent groups or organizations like ESL, but some of the biggest games in eSports today, like League of Legends and DOTA 2, now have massive tournaments with millions of dollars in prizes that are promoted and put on by the developers, with partnerships like 343 has now created.
The Halo games have always been a standard in the world of videogame tournaments and 343 will be kicking off this new initiative with The Master Chief Collection Launch Invitational tournament, which will take place Saturday, November 8 and Sunday, November 9. 32 will compete for a portion of $50,000, and it will of course be streamed on Twitch.
If you’re looking for more information you can find an overview of the league on at Halo Waypoint.
