After the stellar conclusion to the Halo World Championship, many Halo eSports enthusiasts became anxious to discover what would become of the Halo Championship Series. Luckily, 343 Industries announced the HCS Pro League to continue forth the competitive Halo 5 action. Today, 343 Industries and ESPN have unveiled the very first official HCS Pro League Information.

Below is all you need to know about the upcoming Pro and Challenger Divisions for the Halo Championship Series!

Pro League

The HCS Pro League is a first for Halo eSports. Each week, the Top 8 Halo Teams in North America, and Top 6 in Europe will duke it out online for many weeks over each season. The first season begins May 31 and ends July 28th.

Every week beginning in June, ESL will provide streams for North American and European competition – two days for NA, and one for Europe.

The 2016 Halo World Champions, Counter-Logic Gaming, will be automatically inducted into the Pro Division. Other teams will be qualifying through online qualifiers and two LAN qualifiers in April and May. The first HCS LAN event takes place April 24th and will include Evil Geniuses, OpTic Gaming, Enigma 6, and Team EnVyUs!

The PAX East Invitational LAN hosts the four teams featuring the members of the now disbanded Team Allegiance, who took second place at the Halo World Championship. The winner of PAX will claim a spot in the Pro League.

A 16-team Online Qualifier on April 30th will seed a second Invitational LAN (Top 8 out of the 16 teams) that will take place a week later on May 8th. The Top 4 finalists will claim their spots in the first season.

Finally, there will be a series of Open Online Qualifiers in May that will lead to the final conclusive Last Chance Qualifier, in which the final two teams will be invited to the league.

Challenger Division

The Challenger League for the HCS focuses on Halo’s grassroots, offering Amateur players a chance to be promoted to the Pro Division.

An open circuit will be ran for players to earn points for promotion into the Pro League. The Challenger teams with the most points at the end of the season will have the chance to defeat the two relegated Pro Teams in order to be inducted into the Pro League.

Recap

Top 8 North American Pro Teams

Top 6 European Pro Teams

ESL Streams Weekly

2017 Halo World Championship RETURNS w/ $1M Prize Pot and Crowdfunding

May 31st – July 28th

Top 4 Team Playoffs in LA ($250,000 Prize Pot)

Online and LAN Qualifier Events (April & May)

Bottom 2 Pro Teams Relegated to face Challengers

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Source | ESPN eSports