Cover-Credits:
Cloud9 became the fourth partnered organization to quit the Halo Championship Series (HCS) circuit. Fnatic, eUnited and Spacestation Gaming previously quit the Halo circuit. While Spacestation CEO Shawn “Unit” Pellerin confirmed on social media that the organization is not leaving Halo, the other three organizations have not provided any updates about their future in the esport.
Cloud9 is one of the best-performing teams in the Halo circuit and it has years of history competing in Halo events. With such high-profile rosters leaving the circuit, the future of Halo esports has been brought to question by fans.
Cloud9’s departure will leave a massive hole in Halo esports
Cloud9’s Adam “Bound” Gray, Kevin “Eco” Smith, Zane “Penguin” Hearon, Braedon “StelluR” Boettcher, and coach Emanuel “Hoaxer” Lovejoy formed one of the best rosters we have seen in Halo esports. The team dominated events and secured a regionals win at HCS 2022: North America. The team came second at the world championship and also had two second-place finishes at two of 2022’s North American Majors.
Penguin, Eco, and StelluR have been part of Cloud9 since 2020, long before Halo Infinite was released. It is a shame that the players have been let go as Halo continues to struggle to cater to its fans. Even outside of esports, the game’s content updates have been hit with major delays and the game is nowhere near as popular as other popular shooters like CS:GO, Apex Legends, Valorant, or Call of Duty.
Right before the world championship this year, Halo announced that it would not be offering the prize money raised by fans through crowdfunding. The prize pool of the event was diminished as 343 Industries decided to invest the crowdfunded money for 2023’s circuit.
Does all this mean that Halo esports is doomed? Probably not. Complexity Gaming and Quadrant will fill in the shoes of the missing teams as part of the Halo partner program in 2023, but the state of Halo esports right now is far from perfect. If the game cannot pull off a comeback in terms of catering to its casual and competitive audience, the franchise may be nearing its death in the coming years.
