Halo eSports is in serious trouble after four professional teams announced they are quitting the Halo Championship Series (HCS) circuit. Halo is struggling to gain popularity among casual and serious fans. With plummeting viewership, shrinking player pool and constant update delays many professional eSports organizations have decided to shut down their Halo teams and focus on other games.
Four Top Competitive Organizations Pull Plug on Halo eSports
Cloud9 is the latest team to abandon the Halo Championship Series (HCS) circuit. Cloud9 is one of the biggest esports organizations in the world and was one of the top professional Halo teams. They even won the HCS Anaheim 2022 for $54,000 and achieved a very impressive second-place finish at the World Championships and won two Majors but that wasn’t enough to keep the American team around.
Fnatic has also decided to exit professional Halo eSports. Fnatic is another massive eSports organization that competes in a variety of games including CS:GO, League of Legends, and Dota 2. You can stream and bet on all of Fnatic’s eSports matches at https://gg.bet/de/esports. The team is headquartered in London, United Kingdom but has offices spread all across the world. Fnatic wasn’t the strongest Halo team but losing an organization as big as Fnatic really hurts the reputation of the Halo Championship Series.
eUnited is the third team to abandon the Halo Championship Series. eUnited was considered one of the strongest teams in the whole competition but just like Cloud9 have left Halo eSports despite winning a number of tournaments. eUnited has been competing in the Halo Championship Series since it first started so it was a big surprise to see them leave.
The final squad to exit Halo eSports is Spacestation Gaming. This Utah-based eSports organization competes in a variety of games including Rocket League, Rainbow Six, Smash, and many others. Spacestation Gaming did not have a strong Halo team and struggled in the 2022 season. They had a poor performance at the World Championship where they came 18th. So it is not a massive surprise to see them leave the Halo Championship Series as they simply weren’t earning enough prize money to cover expenses.
Why is Halo eSports Dying?
Halo eSports is suffering lots of problems! 343 Industries, which organizes the Halo Championship Series, is struggling to earn money. This has led to declining prize pools. 343 Industries even made the shock announcement that it would not deploy the prize money raised through crowdfunding for the World Championships but instead use it to fund the 2023 season. You know a company is in trouble if it can’t even use other people’s funds to pay for tournaments.
The declining prize pool goes back to Halo experiencing a significant decline in popularity. Players and fans are just far less interested in the game. Halo has lost market share to other popular first-person shooters like CS:GO, Call of Duty, and Valorant. Also, Halo has always been a North American-focused eSport, failing to capture the attention of Asian and European gamers.
Unless Halo is able to give the game a much-needed facelift, bring in new viewers and sign deals with big sponsors then Halo eSports is only going to become more irrelevant. Without making massive changes more and more players are going to jump ship to Valorant and CS:GO.
Will the Halo Championship Series Circuit Collapse?
At the moment the Halo Championship Series Circuit will continue for the 2023 season and you can stream all matches at GGBET, however, its long-term viability is unknown. 343 Industries has announced that Complexity Gaming and Quadrant fill in for the leaving teams. Unfortunately, the prize pools are going to decline and the events may become smaller and smaller. Comment below what you think the future of Halo eSports is.
