343 Studios and Microsoft are looking to expand the Halo Championship Series (HCS) Partnership program over the next few months, with additional applications set to be accepted to get directly involved with Halo Infinite esports. Halo esports lead for 343, Tahir “Tashi” Hasandjekic, recently tweeted that details would be shared soon on how to apply to ensure “an open and transparent process.”
Before the release of Halo Infinite and the first handful of 2021-2022 HCS events, nine esports organization officially partnered with the HCS at the end of August 2021: Cloud9, Envy, eUnited, FaZe Clan, Fnatic, G2, Na’Vi, Sentinels, and Spacestation Gaming. All of the partnered teams competed at this past weekend’s HCS Kickoff Major in Raleigh, except for Fnatic, who has not yet fielded a roster. Envy competed under its recently acquired OpTic banner.
According to the HCS team, they are looking for teams that “have a proven track record of supporting rosters in other games or even Halo.” They’re also looking for teams and organizations with impressive social media and content strategies, in addition to ones that are invested in Halo content creators.
In the replies and retweets to Tashi’s announcement, a few organizations, such as 100 Thieves and Pioneers have been mentioned. Two of 100T’s big names in Nadeshot and CouRage were tweeting throughout the HCS Kickoff Major, praising the event and the ecosystem compared to those of Call of Duty. Pioneers was the only non-partnered team to finish in the top eight at Raleigh.
(All information was provided by Dot Esports)