Welcome back to another installment in our Halo Fest blog series where we provide updates on what you can get excited about at Halo Fest!
If you’re just joining us, you can hit the links below to catch up:
As usual we’ll kick things off with a brief ticketing update. Halo Fest Convention Tickets are now over 80% sold out. We are officially in the final stretch and are expecting to sell out very soon.
To lock in your spot at Halo’s 25th Anniversary bash head to halofest.com/tickets.
This month we’re diving into esports at Halo Fest! When we first announced Halo Fest at HaloWC, we also shared that an HCS Invitational would be part of the celebration. Today we’re sharing the initial details, with more to come later in the summer – let’s jump in!
The HCS Invitational is an invite-only tournament that is just one component of the esports/competitive experience at Halo Fest. The tournament will be played on Halo Infinite, leveraging of course, the latest HCS maps & modes. We’re excited to confirm that the prize pool for the tournament will be $150,000!
We also want to share a bit about the considerations we’re making for the invitation process. It’s not an exact science, and we won’t be using a points criteria. Our goal is to create a competitive spectacle that delivers epic entertainment for Halo fans both onsite and watching online.
Here are some of the factors we’ll be considering for invitations:
HCS partnered teams that are still actively involved in the community/ecosystem.
Top pros or teams competing consistently (and performing well).
Positive contributors to the Halo community and franchise.
Please note that the invites won’t be an even mixture of the above criteria. You can think of them as filters to help us make what will ultimately be a very hard decision. We’re expecting invites to go out late Summer / early Fall.
In terms of format, the tournament will field 8 teams in a mix of pool play and double elimination bracket. It’s important to keep in mind that the Halo Fest Convention is a two-day event, and while we haven’t finalized schedule yet, we’re expecting teams to be eliminated on the first day.
In addition to the HCS Invitational, we’ll also have plenty of open competitions for attendees to participate in themselves. Our goal here is to offer something for everyone: various team sizes including solos, as well as various Halo games in celebration of 25 years of Halo. Some of final matches of the Open Competitions may also take place on the esports stage!
More details are to come, and today we’re excited to confirm that $50,000 in prizing will be awarded across the Open Competitions at Halo Fest.
Which tournament formats or games would you like to compete in? Be sure to drop me a line on Twitter HERE.
The road to Halo Fest continues and each day that passes we are excited to put on a great event and great show for everyone in the Halo community. We can’t wait to celebrate with everyone later in December!
Thanks,
Tashi