eSports crowdfunding raises major prize pool

Microsoft, as the original $1 million dollar sponsor of the 2016 Halo World Championships, made a canny move in opening up the sponsorship in a global crowdfunding initiative earlier this year – it paid off, boosting the available prize money to $2.5 million, and the appeal of the contest to both eSport spectators and top teams.

The initiative allowed Halo fans to buy in-house add-ons when playing the Halo 5: Guardians game, and was well patronised.

Abbreviated to HaloWC, the Halo World Championships takes place March 18 to 20 at Raleigh Studios in Hollywood.

It will see 16 teams competing for major money, with the winning team taking home a million dollars. The second-placed team will collect $500,000, and the rest will be distributed down to the 8th team to finish.

The top eSports teams from North America, Europe, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Asia and Latin America have already committed to the event, representing an eSports galaxy of top players.

The championships will undoubtedly boost interest in Halo 5, which made the headlines recently by delivering $400 million in sales in its first week after public launch.

Although HaloWC has an impressive guaranteed prize pool, it is by no means an eSports record; that honour goes to The International, a Dota 2 competition which last year delivered a prize pool of $18,429,613.05 (see previous report).

Full details here: https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-ie/community/halo-championship-series