The Halo Championship Series 2025 Major will be the last HCS to support Halo Infinite, a blog post has revealed. The news comes amidst intense speculation over future Halo projects.
HCS has been Halo’s officially supported circuit since 2014; however, that system looks like it will be on a brief hiatus as the franchise shifts between games. In 2024, HCS hosted a London Major, won by FaZe Clan at Twickenham Stadium.
Halo’s competitive future
Tahir ‘Tashi’ Hasandjekic, Esports and Viewership Lead for the Halo franchise at 343 Industries, announced the changes in a blog post outlining the future of the Halo franchise in esports.
“Over the next few months, the HCS will host the 2 planned Majors as well as the almost sold out and highly anticipated Halo World Championship on October 24-26. Once a world champion is crowned in October, the HCS will be retiring Halo Infinite from Official HCS Competition.“
The blog post added that Halo Infinite would still receive support in 2026 from 343, but there would be no official HCS events:
“This means we will still support Halo Infinite and the tournament scene in 2026, but HCS will be moving on from Halo Infinite for official competition following this year’s Halo World Championship. As the studio continues to shift more and more towards the next era of Halo, we feel this is the right time for Official HCS Competition to move on from Halo Infinite.“
The post went on to thank fans for their support of the game, as Halo gears up for its 25th anniversary next year following the 2001 release of the seminal console FPS, Halo: Combat Evolved.
Sadly, I guess even Infinite things don’t last forever… but the news does entice the reader into what exactly the “next era of Halo” looks like.
When will the next Halo be announced?
The truth is, we don’t know exactly when new information regarding the next Halo will be released, but when we combine the information in Tashi’s latest blog post with information shared in a previous post, we can see the possibility that new information may be linked to Halo’s esports circuit.
In the latest blog post, Tashi teases, “So, when will Official HCS competition return for a new title? While we look forward to the day, it will not be in 2026. As always, we will keep the community up to date with the latest and expect another update from us on that front at some point late next year.”
This implies that 343 will unveil support for a new game in late 2026, but will the new game just be released at that time, or will there be a time when the new game is out but doesn’t have support, or will there be another project in the meantime that is not an esports project?
Another one of Tashi’s blogs implies that new information regarding the next Halo will come in 2025. The blog states, “Speculation is always fun, but if you want the official scoop on what Halo Studios has been working on, you won’t want to miss this year’s Halo World Championship. We really hope you’ll join us in Seattle this October!”
Perhaps HCS 2025, from October 24-26 will provide information about the next project, and illuminate whether that specific project is the project HCS will move forward with.
Darragh Harbinson is an esports writer specialising in Counter-Strike. He has written for Esports News UK, Esports Insider, UKCSGO, Dexerto, and Rush B Media.