Infinite will see the relaunch of Halo esports with 9 partnered teams

A new era of Halo esports is coming. Microsoft has revealed nine partnered teams for the launch of Halo Infinite, coming later this year. 

The nine teams that are included in the relaunch of the Halo Championship Series are Cloud9, Envy, eUnited, FaZe Clan, Fnatic, G2 Esports, Natus Vincere, Sentinels, and Spacestation Gaming.

Halo Infinite is set to release on Dec. 8 with the single-player campaign and multiplayer modes available. Halo has been a big esports title in the past, but it began to struggle for viewers around the release of Halo 4 and Halo: Reach. 

A relaunch of the Halo Championship Series was attempted when Halo 5 was released and was dubbed the Halo 5 Pro Series, which had a prize pool of $63,000 across North America, Latin America, EMEA, and Australia and New Zealand. The competitive series went off without much fanfare and the Halo esports scene remained relatively inactive. 

Fans and esports professionals are hoping that this iteration of the Halo series will invigorate the Halo Championship Series. The upcoming title and sixth installment of the series is highly anticipated, especially since its launch was delayed from its original 2020 launch date. 

The Halo franchise has reportedly sold over 81 million copies worldwide and the game is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. Since the teams chosen already have a large following, it seems like this iteration of the Halo Championship Series could be off to a good start.