Over the past three years, the impact of Halo esports has grown at a rapid pace, with the introduction of the Halo Championship Series, Halo World Championship, and incredible accompanying partners and tournament programs. From the X-Games in Aspen, CO and dominant dynasties, to epic upsets and underdog stories, modern competitive Halo has been punctuated by a litany of legendary moments.

Today, a new chapter begins in the franchise’s competitive legacy, beginning with the road to the Halo World Championship 2018, and the announcement of incredible new partnerships.

We’re excited to confirm that the wait for Halo World Championship 2018 news is finally over. The future of Halo esports starts now.

NEW PARTNERS

Paramount to the next era of Halo esports are the evolving relationships in place with some truly legendary partners. Let’s take a look at some of them now.

MAJOR LEAGUE GAMING

Reunited and it feels so good. Halo and MLG were integral aspects to each other’s astounding success over the years – a true symbiotic combo that spawned a generation of diehard esports fans. Our reignited relationship aims to align some of the best traits from Halo’s past and present to take Halo esports to the next level.

MLG will be the primary partner for the Halo Championship Series and will operate the two North American HaloWC 2018 qualifying events, as well as the HaloWC 2018 Finals.

GFINITY

After helping put on the biggest European Halo esports event since Halo 3, Gfinity have returned to the HaloWC lineup. HCS London was a smashing success, and we can’t wait to build even further on this already-strong partnership.

GAMELTA

The Halo Championship Series partnered with Gamelta during the 2017 Halo World Championship, and we’re excited to be with them again to open up 2018. Gamelta provides an amazing spectacle for audience members and players alike, and we can’t wait to continue to support to the amazing Latin American Halo community alongside them as the HaloWC 2018 rolls through Mexico.

ESL AUSTRALIA

As stalwarts in the competitive Halo scene, this is the third year that we will be partnering with ESL AUS for HaloWC qualifiers – and it’s shaping up to be the best one yet. The ESL AUS team is made up of passionate Halo fans with deep ties in the competitive community, and we couldn’t be more excited to partner with them for the first ever official HCS open LAN in the Australia/New Zealand region.

HALOWC 2018 ROADMAP

For all the up-to-date details on regions, format, travel, registration, and more, check out the official HaloWC Event Hub at Halo.gg.

Feb 16-18 – Orlando Open

Open to all competitors from any region

$50k prize pool

Teams will qualify for group play and travel compensation via weekly online tournaments.

Teams will not qualify directly to HaloWC Finals during this event but will earn crucial points for their standing in their respective regions.

$5,000 FFA.

Feb 23-25 – London Finals

European Open Regional Final

$25k prize pool

Teams will qualify for free travel via points accrued online and from Orlando.

This event will qualify the Top 4 teams directly to the HaloWC Finals.

$5,000 FFA

March 9-11 – Sydney Finals

ANZ Open Regional Final

$25k prize pool

Teams will qualify for free travel via points accrued online and from Orlando.

This event will qualify the Top 2 teams directly to the HaloWC Finals.

$5,000 FFA

March 17-18 – Mexico City Finals

LATAM Open Regional Final

$25k prize pool

Teams will qualify for free travel via points accrued online and from Orlando

This event will qualify the top team directly to the HaloWC Finals.

$5,000 FFA

MARCH 23 – March 25 – Columbus Finals

NA Regional Final

$50k prize pool

Top 16 teams in points only

Teams will qualify for full or partial travel coverage via points accrued both online and from the Orlando event.

This event will qualify the Top 9 teams directly to the HaloWC Finals.

HALOWC FINALS – APRIL 13-15 – Seattle

Following the aforementioned qualifiers, the HaloWC 2018 Finals will be held right here in the home of Halo – Seattle, WA, where the top 16 teams from around the world will battle it out for a $1,000,000 prize pool. We couldn’t be more excited to be working with MLG to ensure that both the venue and spectacle will match the epic scale that a Halo world championship deserves – both on broadcast and in-person. Additional specific format details for each event are on the way, including where to sign up to compete online, purchasing a team pass, spectating, and more, but for opening details, head over to our official format breakdown.

HaloWC x Surface

Back in October, we revealed the Halo 5 Local Server application for Windows 10, and since then Microsoft Stores and community LANs have taken advantage of this new feature to play Halo 5 the same way top players do at official HCS events. Today, we’re also excited to announce that we’re partnering with the Microsoft Surface team to make Surface the official local server hardware of the Halo World Championship 2018. Every tournament station at each Halo World Championship 2018 event will be outfitted with a Surface to provide the smoothest tournament experience for all players. We’ll have more to announce about this great partnership in the future.

The future of Halo esports is bold, bright, and approaching fast – we can’t wait for you to join us every step of the way. And as always, for all the latest on the Halo Championship Series and the Halo World Championship, keep it locked to Halo.gg and follow @HCS and @MLG on Twitter.