The first 343-organized league starts this month, runs through March 2015.
Microsoft and 343 Industries are teaming up with Twitch and ESL (Electronic Sports League) to form a new eSports initiative focused exclusively on the Halo franchise.
Dubbed the Halo Championship Series, the new league will initially use Halo: The Master Chief Collection in its inaugural season, with an eventual shift to 2015’s Halo 5. The first season of competition will start later this month, and conclude in March 2015. While the collection has a whole mess of content included, HCS will seemingly focus on the updated Halo 2 Anniversary maps included in the MCC bundle. And that’s no surprise, as many hardcore Halo fans consistently point to Halo 2 for multiplayer excellence.
The HCS is only the latest effort by a publisher to aggressively push eSports for its own title. Valve runs The Invitational, its massive yearly DOTA 2 tournament, and similar plans are in place for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Riot Games runs the massively popular League Championship Series (LCS) for League of Legends, which just saw its fourth season wrap up with the finals taking place in Seoul, South Korea.
Like similar efforts from other publishers, HCS will use a point award system for matches and tournaments during the regular season, which will use classic four-on-four gameplay. Once the regular season is complete, select teams (with the most points) will be invited to compete in the playoffs, and finals.
The first event of the season, the Halo: The Master Chief Collection Launch Invitational, will take place this weekend (November 8-9th) at ESL’s studio in Burbank, CA.
Sources: Polygon | ESL PR
