Halo Infinite Esports

Category: Halo

How to Watch HCS 2023 Kickoff Major – teams, format, schedule, streams, predictions

Posted on by Gabriel Sciberras

Accordingly, after a week delay, the 2023 Halo Infinite season is incoming. Indeed, in the form of an exciting HCS 2023 Kickoff Major, the international competition is uniting under one roof to determine an early champion – read on to learn How to Watch this event below!

Event Background

Credits: Halo Esports Twitter

For those unaware, the Halo Championship Series is the highest level of comeptitive Halo Infinite in the world, hosted by 343 Industries.

Spread into regions, every now and then the community is united in what are called HCS Majors. Kicking off the season, following the regional qualifiers, the HCS 2023 Kickoff Major starts next week.

Specifically, taking place between 24th and 26th February, there’s $250,000 on the line together with an enormous amount of Pro Points. Hosted by the Charlotte Convention Centre in the US, here are your competing teams:

North America Qualifier

  • FaZe Clan
  • OpTic Gaming
  • GF1
  • Native Gaming Red
  • Spacestation Gaming
  • BtH BtH

North America HCS Points

  • Sentinels
  • Rebellion

Europe Qualifier

  • Natus Vincere
Credits: Halo Esports Twitter

Europe HCS Points

  • Quadrant

Mexico Qualifier

  • Luminosity

Oceania Qualifier

  • Divine Mind

Read on to learn more about the format below!

Format

With regards to the format, we’re returning to the beloved open format type of event which the HCS hosted all year in 2022.

Bearing this in mind, 343 Industries isn’t making many changes for the second year of Halo Infinite.

Firstly, prior to the Main Event, there’ll be an open bracket, with open signups. From this event, the top 2 from the Upper Bracket and the Lower Bracket will earn a spot in Pool Play alongside the top teams in the world.

HCS Super 2022 Halo Infinite
Credits: 343 Industries

Speaking of which, here are the groups for Pool Play:

  • A: FaZe Clan, Shopify Rebellion, Natus Vincere, TBD
  • B: OpTic Gaming, Sentinels, Quadrant, TBD
  • C: Gamers First, Believe The Hype, Luminosity Gaming, TBD
  • D: Native Gaming Red, Spacestation Gaming, Divine Mind

Overall, four groups of four teams will compete in a round robin. For those unaware, this means that all teams will face one another once. With each game being BO5, here’s how teams progress to the Championship Bracket:

  • Top 2 of each group – Championship Upper Bracket round 1
  • 3rd of each group – Championship Lower Bracket round 1
  • 4th of each group – Elimination

Once in the Championship Bracket, the final 12 teams will fight through a double elimination bracket.

Moreover, this implies that teams in the Upper Bracket will fall to the Lower Bracket should they lose – an additional loss in the Lower Bracket means elimination.

At this stage, all matches are BO5, while the Grand Finals will be BO7.

Schedule for the HCS 2023 Kickoff Major

For the full schedule, we recommend tuning into the official HCS Twitter page here.

Watch the HCS 2023 Kickoff Major on esportsguide

Credits: 343 Industries

You can also watch the HCS 2023 Kickoff Major live stream via our very own website. Providing an extensive list of the biggest esports together with streams for each esports match live today or upcoming matches.

HCS 2023 Kickoff Major

Predictions

So, it’s no surprise that North America is the dominant region in competitive Halo. Here’s how the competition stacked up in the Main NA Qualifier ahead of this event:

  • #1 – FaZe Clan
  • #2 – OpTic Gaming
  • #3 – Gamers First

However, it’s worth noting that OpTic Gaming are your defending World Champions from last year – they’ll likely make a deep run at the HCS 2023 Kickoff Major!

For more esports news, visit: https://www.esportsguide.com/news

Halo Esports 2023 – 343 Industries Delaying Season Start

Posted on by Gabriel Sciberras

This weekend, the competitive Halo community was geared to kick off the season. Accordingly, the Charlotte Major qualifiers were going to take place this weekend to start Halo Esports 2023. However, developers have pushed the start back by one week – read on to learn more!

Halo Esports 2023 – Fine-Tuning the Balancing

Indeed, in a frustrating move for the community, a member of the 343 Industries team revealed the change in plans on Twitter:

Credits: Tashi Twitter

Overall, it seems 343 Industries are not ready to start hosting the qualifiers, claiming they want to ‘improve the experience’.

Moreover, this move is said to be timed with a balance update incoming in 15th February, which makes sense. In addition, this does provide further chance for teams to make changes and to settle in before competing again.

In response, the community is rather upset that such decisions are so late, with competitors especially affected.

Credits: 343 Industries

Accordingly, this is part of a string of poor decisions from 343 Industries.

Indeed, last time, before Halo World Championship 2022, the prize pool was also adjusted at the last second.

We’ll be sure to keep you up to date in the coming days!

For more esports news, visit: https://www.esportsguide.com/news

Quadrant Halo Esports 2023 Roster – Combining 2 European Duos

Posted on by Gabriel Sciberras

As competitive Halo Infinite returned last year, the narrative between North America and Europe continued. Accordingly, while the best teams were clearly from NA, Europe tried closing the gap. Indeed, teams such as Quadrant Halo Esports 2023 are looking to continue improving with changes in 2023!

Quadrant Halo Esports 2023 – Hopes for Europe

Credits: Quadrant Twitter

Created in 2020, by F1 Racer Lando Norris, this organization has been one of the top in Europe since the return of Halo. However, they haven’t been consistent, with some very poor showings at some of the Majors last season.

Accordingly, they look to improve by signing a new duo of players to the roster:

  • Norwen “SLG” Le Galloudec
  • Sebastien “TchiK” Darriet
  • Kaci “Lqgend” Sabri – NEW
  • Renan “Sica” Grall – NEW
HCS Super 2022 Halo Infinite
Credits: 343 Industries

Overall, this change signs a duo from Acend, arguably the number 1 team in Europe from last season. Thsi new veteran experience can help this team improve over their lacking legacy:

  • 17-20th @ Halo Championship Series 2022: Orland Major
  • 3rd @ HCS 2021-22 Europe Open Series 8
  • 2nd @ Halo Championship Series 2022: Europe Regional Champioship
  • 7-8th @ HCS Kansas City Major

For more esport news, visit: https://www.esportsguide.com/news

HCS Charlotte Major 2023 – First Event of the Season Revealed

Posted on by Gabriel Sciberras

Following a relatively successful first year of competition, the Halo Championship Series is returning for the second year. Accordingly, 343 Industires just announced the first event of the season. Read on as we preview the HCS Charlotte Major 2023 below!

HCS Charlotte Major – Kicking off in February

Credits: Halo Esports Twitter
  • Venue: Charlotte, North Caroline (USA)
  • Date: 24-26th February
  • Prize Pool: $250,000 (4v4) + $5,000 (FFA)

Indeed, we’re excited for the season to return, with some of the best teams in the world attending. Here are the HCS Partnered Teams that are guaranteed a spot in the competition:

  • OpTic Gaming
  • FaZe Clan
  • Sentinels
  • Spacestation Gaming
  • Natus Vincere
  • Quadrant
  • Complexity

In addition, five further teams will be seeded through an invitation-basis.

Credits; 343

Do note that apart from the prize pool, teams are competing for Halo Championship Series points to help them seed for future events later this season.

Otherwise, feel free to view more details for the event as per the press release viewable here.

However, we’d like to see some more changes and further details with regards to the possibility of crowd-funding for prize pools like last season.

For more esports news, visit: https://www.esportsguide.com/news

Sentinels Halo Roster 2023 – Building Around LethuL

Posted on by Gabriel Sciberras

Indeed, a few days ago we discussed the FaZe Halo roster which made some changes. Accordingly, the Sentinels Halo Roster 2023 is related to that previous move. Read on as we discuss what Sentinels are building for the upcoming season below!

Sentinels Halo Roster 2023 – Mixing with FaZe

Credits: Sentinels Twitter

Last season, Sentinels were respected as one of the top talents in North America. Overall, the competitive Halo community is curious to see whether they can bounce back after disappointing at Halo World Championship 2022.

After the last season, the team let go of multiple players and the coach – “SnakeBite”, “Royal2”, “Frosty” and “Royal1” (Coach) have all been let go.

Instead, the following is the new active roster:

  • Tony “LethuL” Campbell Jr.
  • Nick “KingNick” Panzella (NEW)
  • Kahari “Kuhlect” Miller (NEW)
  • Tyler “Spartan” Ganza (NEW)
  • Kyle “Chig” Lawson – Coach (NEW)
Halo Infinite Esports
Credits: 343 Industries

Combining talents from former FaZe Clan, Oxygen Esports and eUnited, this roster is very exciting.

  • 5-6th @ Halo World Championship 2022
  • 4th @ HCS 2022 Orlando Major
  • 3rd @ HCS 2022 North America Super
  • 5-6th @ HCS 2021-22 NA Pro Series 3
  • 1st @ HCS 2022 Kansas City Major
  • 3rd @ FaZe Halo Invitational

We’ll be keeping up to date to see how this roster fares this year!

For more esports news, visit: https://www.esportsguide.com/news

FaZe Halo Roster 2023 – Stacked with Former World Champions

Posted on by Gabriel Sciberras

As the momentum builds for the 2023 competitive Halo season, teams are beginning to form or reform. Accordingly, the FaZe Halo Roster 2023 was just revealed. Indeed, with some impressive names, this roster could be a threat this year.

FaZe Halo Roster 2023 – Rebuild Completed

Credits: FaZe Clan Twitter

At the end of last season, after floating at the top but never winning, change was needed. Despite a consistent performance, not winning is not an option for an organization like FaZe Clan.

Parting ways with 3 players from last season, they went into the offseason looking for stars and veterans.

Let’s take a look at the announced roster below:

  • Jonathan “Renegade” Willette
  • Bradley “Frosty” Bergstrom – NEW
  • Mathew “Royal2″ Fiorante – NEW
  • Paul “SnakeBite” Duarte – NEW
Halo Infinite Esports
Credits: 343 Industries

For those unaware, these are all players from the former Sentinels Halo roster. Accordingly, the likes of these players won back-to-back Halo World Championships in 2016 and 2017.

Considering this, such a roster is promising for 2023 – let’s see if they can improve over their legacy:

  • 4th @ Halo World Championship 2022
  • 3rd @ Halo Championship Series 2022: Orlando Major
  • 3rd @ eUnited Grunt Classic
  • 7-8th @ HCS 2022: North America Super
  • 5-6th @ HCS 2022: Kansas City Major

For more esports news, visit: https://www.esportsguide.com/news

Halo Spacestation Spartan Snowdown Preview – Kicking off this Weekend

Posted on by Gabriel Sciberras

When it comes to Halo esports 2023, we still don’t know what to expect for the upcoming season. However, until then, we have an event to look forward to. Accordingly, the incoming Halo Spacestation Spartan Snowdown looks to entertain – read on to learn more below!

Halo Spacestation Spartan Snowdown – Qualifier This Weekend

Credits: Halo Esports Twitter

Just like the FaZe Invitational last year, this is an organization looking to organize an event similar to the Halo Championship Series.

Moreover, the online event will be kicking off in the coming weeks – here are some details:

  • Dates: Qualifier (January 7-8th), Main Event (January 13-14th)
  • Teams: 16 teams
  • Venue: Online
  • Prize Pool: $25,000
  • Format: Pool Play + Double Elimination Bracket

Taking place this weekend, the qualifier will feature a maximum of 128 teams, fielded from either North America or Mexico. From the qualifier, 4 qualifier teams will join 12 invited teams.

Halo Infinite Esports
Credits: 343 Industries

From these final 16, only a few will proceed to the double-elimination bracket where they’ll fight to win the entire event.

Do note that apart from the Main Event, there’ll also be the Forge Showmatch on the 13th January, showing off two new maps available after the event.

For more esports news, visit: https://www.esportsguide.com/news

Featured: Halo Infinite Esports 2022 – Evaluating the Opening Year

Posted on by Gabriel Sciberras

The release of Halo Infinite in November 2021 was huge for both casual and competitive gamers. Accordingly, the title essential re-ignited an esport which had been underwater for a few years. Bearing this in mind, read on as we discuss how the opening year, reviewing Halo Infinite Esports 2022!

Halo Infinite Esports 2022 – Plenty of Events

For context, the last event was the Halo Championship Series Finals 2018 for Halo 5.

After multiple years of downtime, the Halo Championship Series was reborn and reworked for 2022. Naturally, considering how young Halo Infinite was in its release, 343 Industries designed a competitive season with this in mind – access and opportunity.

Credits: 343 Industries

Specifically, the HCS focused on open format events with multiple qualifiers. In addition, third party events were hosted all year, with great success – such as the FaZe Clan Invitational. This open nature and frequency of events gave teams the opportunity to invest in the esport.

Here’s a look at the essential events which decorated the season’s calendar:

  • 2021 – December – Halo Champinoship Kickoff Major (Raleigh)
  • 2022 – February-March – HCS 2022 Regionals + Supers (Online)
  • April – FaZe Halo Invitational (Online)
  • May – HCS Kansas City Major
  • July-August – HCS 2022 Regionals + Supers (Offline and Online)
  • September – HCS Orlando Major
  • October – Halo World Championship 2022

Indeed, we were thrilled to see offline events being held. Accordingly, this contributed to the success. For those uanware, Majors had $350,000 on the line. Moreover, to conclude the season, an impressive $1,000,000 was thrown up for the Halo World Championship 2022.

Esports Viewership – Some Respectable Statistics

Credits: Halo Esports Twitter

Now, this is the part of the discussion where we discuss viewership. As we’ve said in the past, viewership is a great metric to understand how popular an esport is.

Indeed, this early on, a steady viewership is essential – all the statistics to be mentioned are thanks to Esports Charts.

Firstly, every single event this year blew previous Halo events out of the water. For example, 7 events this year surpassed the HCS World Championship 2018 viewership. Sitting at a peak viewership of 90,000, here’s how this season compared to that former halmark event:

  • HCS Kickoff Major Raleigh 2021 – Peak Viewers 267,279
  • Bud Light Seltzer’s Battle of the Best – Peak Viewers 155,232
  • HCS World Championship 2022 – Peak Viewers 143,585
  • AT&T Annihilator Cup 2022 – Peak Viewers 121,721
  • HCS Anaheim 2022 – Peak Viewers 114,194
  • HCS Major Kansas City 2022 – Peak Viewers 104,234
  • Major Orlando 2022 HCS – Peak Viewers 88,967
  • HCS North America Super 2022 – Peak Viewers 77,494
Credits: The Chiefs Twitter

Notably, the first event of the season racked in the most viewership – which is expected due to how long ago Halo esports was ever watched. This excitement carried on, to a lesser extent, to the rest of the season.

Combining a live crowd, the high-quality broadcast seemed to attract both old Halo competitive fans together with new eyes.

In short, while there’s room for improvement next year, considering the nature of an opening year and previous Halo events – viewership was great.

Halo Infinite Esports 2023 – Hopes for Next Year

Credits: 343 Industries

Moving on, we have a short wishlist for Halo Infinite Esports should they want to expand and improve:

  • More regular game updates – a year old, the community is already beginning to complain of a lack of updated. Indeed, 343 Industries needs to keep up with the growth.
  • International approach – an HCS Major in a non-North American venue would be incredible to see how other regions react to the esport
  • Minimize controversy – the change in prize pool to the World Championship left a sour taste in the mouths of Halo esports players – either stick to crowd-funding or abandon it completely
  • More regular third party events – they were a great success last year

Overall, we can’t wait to see more from 343 Industries in the coming year.

For more esports news, visit: https://www.esportsguide.com/news

Esports Tier List 2022 Q4 – A Conclusive Look at the Year

Posted on by Gabriel Sciberras

As is tradition at esportsguide, we love working on an Esports Tier List every now and then. Indeed, following the conclusion of some of the largest esports events ever, now is the best time ever. Accordingly, feel free to read on for an updated list for Esports Tier List 2022 Q4!

Indeed, as always, we’ll fill you in on the same criteria we’ve always used to dictate our tier lists:

  • Event Proportions – Size of prize pools, number of participants, third and first party organizers, environment and arena capacities
  • Event frequency – is the year bursting with competition or solely reliant on infrequent first-party organizers
  • Competitiveness – the level of competition in an esports scene is related to its livelihood
  • State of the community – health of the lower tier sectors and general condition of the esport as a dynamic entity
Credits: Garena

Accordingly, with that taken care of, always remember that these lists are subject to our opinion too. Otherwise, we’ll be listing the top viewership from the time period, although it’s not the only factor considered. We’re not looking at growth – just where they stand.

Tier 1 – Welcoming VALORANT and Free Fire – Esports Tier List 2022

  • LoL – 2022 World Championship – Peak Viewers 5,147,701
  • CS:GO – PGL Major Antwerp 2022 – Peak Viewers 2,113,610
  • Dota 2 – The International 2022 – Peak Viewers 1,751,086
  • VALORANT – VALORANT Champions 2022 – Peak Viewers 1,505,804
  • Free Fire – Free Fire World Series 2022 Sentosa – Peak Viewers 1,477,545
Heroic BLAST
Credits: BLAST

So, let’s talk about the changes involved here. Firstly, since our last Esports Tier List, we’ve decided to promote VALORANT to Tier 1 after an incredible second season, breaking the million peak viewer mark.

In addition, we’ve decided to demote PUBG Mobile from Tier 1 to Tier 2 due to a quieter year, failing to reach the same level of viewership. In contrast, Free Fire managed to grow in the past year and have earned a spot as the top Mobile Esport in the world.

Otherwise, LoL and CS:GO retain their spots as the two very best esports in the world, each having incredible years. Although still worthy of Tier 1, Dota had a rough year and will look to improve next year.

Tier 2 – Multiple Promotions and Demotions

  • PUBG Mobile – 31st Southeast Asian Games PUBG Mobile – Peak Viewers 903,011
  • AoG – Arena of Glory Winter 2022 – Peak Viewers 644,383
  • Rocket League – RLCS 21-22 World Championship – Peak Viewers 368,721
  • Overwatch League – OWL 2022 Playoffs – Peak Viewers 397,868
  • CoD – CDL 2022 Playoffs – Peak Viewers 275,244
Screenshot e
Credits: Psyonix

While Tier 1 has remained somewhat the same, Tier 2 has seen multiple changes since last year.

Perhaps the most impressive climber is the likes of Rocket League – after an impressive year with constant improvement in viewership, the esport is kicking up very well. They’re climb to Tier 2 from Tier 3 is joined by AoG which has remained consistent over the past two years.

Also, Overwatch has made the jump thanks to a much needed improvement of viewership from last year. In fact, it was doubled this year thanks to the excitement behind Overwatch 2.

As we explained prior, for now we’ve had to demote PUBG Mobile to Tier 2 as they’ve failed to be consistent this past year. Let’s see if things improve next year.

Tier 3 – Halo Infinite Making a Mark

  • Halo World Championship 2022 – Peak Viewers 143,585
  • FIFA – FIFA eWorld Cup 2022 – Peak Viewers 149,465
  • PUBG – PUBG Nations Cup – Peak Viewers 239,112
  • Rainbow Six Siege – Six Invitational 2022 – Peak Viewers 262,714
Overwatch 2
Credits: Blizzard

Here in Tier 3, the likes of Halo and FIFA are newcomers. With Halo restarting esports operations this year, it joins an improving FIFA scene which returned with offline events this year.

Meanwhile, we’ve decided to demote PUBG and Rainbow Six Siege as they both seem to be lacking growth. Bearing this in mind, both esports are making big changes for 2023 in search of success.

Tier 4 – Wild Rift Experiment Failing?

Screenshot e
Credits: Blizzard
  • StarCraft II – IEM Katowice 2022 – Peak Viewers 50,635
  • Fortnite – Fortnite Champions Series 2022 Invitational – Peak Viewers 381,915
  • Hearthstone – Hearthstone World Championship – Peak Viewers 21,786
  • Wild Rift – Icons Global Championship 2022 – Peak Viewers – 54,261

Meanwhile, here in Tier 4 we have the likes of StarCraft II, Fortnite and Wild Rift all in need of some improvement.

In conclusion, we can confidently say that Hearthstone is in a dire spot.

For more esports news, visit: https://www.esportsguide.com/news

How to Watch Halo World Championship 2022: teams, format, schedule, streams, predictions

Posted on by Gabriel Sciberras

This past year has been incredible for competitive Halo. Indeed, Halo Infinite has seen the return of a community longing for a new format. Accordingly, it all climaxes with the largest event of the year – the Halo World Championship 2022. Read on to learn how to watch this exciting event below!

Event Background

Credits: Halo Esports Twitter

As we’ll reiterate, this World Championship is the climax of the Halo Championship Series. For those unaware, 343 Industries has been hosting premier Halo events all year.

Through these events, teams from across the world have been offered the chance to qualify for the big one. Specifically, the final event will feature a $1,000,000 prize pool and will crown a world champion team to be written into the history books.

Taking place betwen the 20th and 23rd October, the following are the 20 teams who’ll be competing at the Seattle Convention Center:

Play-In

  • Fnatic
  • Complexity Gaming
  • Spacestation Gaming
  • Altar Esports
  • Acend
  • JLINGZ esports
  • Chiefs
  • Divine Mind

Pool Play

  • OpTic Gaming
  • Cloud9
  • FaZe Clan
  • Sentinels
  • G2 Esports
  • eUnited
  • Gamers First
  • Oxygen Esports
  • Natus Vincere
  • Team WaR
  • Native Gaming Red
  • TSS Esports
Credits: Halo Esports Twitter

Apart from the prize pool, teams are also earning points which may come in handy next season.

Format

So, with teams from Europe, NA, Mexico and Oceania, how does the format work?

Accordingly, there will be multiple stages of competition. Firstly, we’ll have a Play-In Stage. Featuring an 8 team double elimination bracket, these teams will be doing their best to make it to the Pool Play Stage and join the rest of the competition.

However, to get there, teams will need to fight through a double elimination bracket and hope to place in the top 4. Here, all matches will be BO5. Take a look at the opening matches below:

  • Fnatic vs Divine Mind
  • Spacestation vs JLINGZ esports
  • Acend vs Altar Esports
  • Complexity Gaming vs Chiefs ESC
Credits: OpTic aPG Twitter

Once complete, the four teams will join the 12 teams of Pool Play, making it a 16 team competition. Accordingly, this is where the four teams from the Play-in will be shuffled to join the existing Groups:

  • A: OpTic Gaming, Oxygen Esports, Native Gaming
  • B: Cloud9, Gamers First, Team WaR
  • C: FaZe Clan, G2 Esports, TSS Esports
  • D: Sentinels, eUnited, Natus Vincere

Within each group, teams will compete against one another once in a round robin, with BO5 matches. Teams will be fighting to earn the following seeds for the Championship Bracket:

  • 1-2nd – Championship Upper Bracket Round 1
  • 3rd – Championship Lower Bracket Round 1
  • 4th – Eliminated

Finally, we’ll have our final 12 teams. Bearing this in mind, the final 12 will compete through a double elimination bracket with BO5 matches. Everything concludes with an exciting BO7 Grand Final.

Schedule for the Halo World Championship 2022

Credits: Halo Esports Twitter

Considering how extensive the event is, we recommend visiting the esports page for Halo Infinite here.

Watch the Halo World Championship 2022 on esportsguide

You can also watch the event live stream via our very own website. Providing an extensive list of the biggest esports together with streams for each esports match live today or upcoming matches.

Halo World Championship 2022

Predictions

Moreover, while we could predict here, we’ve already worked on a featured article to discuss the matter. Feel free to read our in-depth predictions here.

For more esports news, visit: https://www.esportsguide.com/news