Halo Studios has announced that Halo Infinite will be retired from the HCS esports circuit after the championship this year. It also seems that there will be no HCS in 2026 in order to make presparations for the next Halo title. This was inevitable, perhaps, but it’s still surprising to see the game being brought to a close already.

On Microsoft’s official Halo site, Halo Waypoint, Halo Studios offered its commentary on the decision. They talked about the journey up to this point and thanked both fans and players for their dedication for all the time that Halo Infinite was the game of choice for HCS (aka the Halo Championship Series), four years in total. They also noted that this was the longest that a single Halo title had major esports competition. So, it does seem that this decision is kind of a big deal for everyone involved.

I found myself feeling a bit conflicted upon reading this news for a number of reasons. For one, this must really suck for everyone that poured themselved into competition in this game only to have it yanked just four years later. Yes, games get pulled from the esports world all the time, but then we also have games like League of Legends, Star Craft II and Super Smash Bros. Melee, all of which have seen fierce competition for going on for ten or even twenty years. Why is it that shooters so regularly get pulled when they should have the most avid fans and community?

Also, four years is quite a bit short of the “ten year journey” fans were promised at the outset of Halo Infinite. True, many of those fans have since moved on, but then that’s mostly Microsoft’s, Xbox’s and 343i’s fault. The decision to not only launch the game when it wasn’t even half-baked but to monetize it to such an egregious degree was all on them, and they paid for it in people leaving the game. Nevermind also that Xbox has seemingly been doing its best to drive players away from Xbox via constant project cancellations and studio closures. (This is a whole thing, so I’m going to stop here).

That’s all, I suppose. While I might be thinking “good riddance” as far as Halo Infinite goes, it’s still a bummer for everyone who invested themselves into it. What I don’t get is why this is happening now. They’ve got Halo Infinite, Halo 5 and Halo MCC, so why not use, I dunno, any of these for HCS until they’ve actually got a new game ready for competition? Halo is already on the brink of irrelevency and this isn’t going to help matters.

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What’s your take on this? How about on Halo Infinite in general?

Image from Halo Waypoint