343 Studios and Microsoft are seeking to expand the HCS Team Partnership program over the next few months. Additional applications will begin to be accepted for esports organizations to get directly involved with top-tier Halo Infinite esports.
The news came from the lead for Halo Esports at 343/Microsoft, Tahir “Tashi” Hasandjekic. Tashi tweeted out that the Halo esports team at 343 will be looking to expand the Team Partnership program for the Halo Championship Series between February and April. Details will 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 since acquired OpTic banner.
Partnered teams have invested “into the future of the Halo esports ecosystem” and are entitled to revenue sharing, priority access to filming content at events, and future perks not yet outlined. The teams do not receive additional HCS points or direct invites to events, however.
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.
