Love Halo? You could win up to $250 in Microsoft’s new virtual Halo 2 tournament

(Image credit: Microsoft)

If you love playing Halo competitively (and can't wait for Halo Infinite), there's a new esports tournament series that lets players compete for cash prizes and online bragging rights. 

In a blog post on Halo Waypoint, Microsoft's 343 Studios has announced the MCC Pro Series, a tournament that's open to both amateur and pro players alike, which kicks off on May 23. 

The open tournament is free to enter by all players, regardless of their ranking, while the pro tournament is strictly reserved for the elite few who possess godlike reactions and seriously impressive skills. All matches will be played on PC, and both controller and keyboard and mouse inputs are accepted. 

The two tournaments will rotate each week, and the featured game will be Halo 2: Anniversary, which releases on PC tomorrow (May 12). Other games in the series may be added over the course of the tournament, depending on what players want to see, but the PC version of Halo: The Master Chief Collection only currently includes Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Halo: Reach and, from tomorrow, Halo 2: Anniversary.

So how does the tournament work, then? And more importantly, what can you win? Well, the open tournament has three monetary prizes up for grabs. First place will snag you a cool $250 (about £200 / AU$375), second place will earn you $150, and a respectable third nets you $100. As you’d expect, the pro players will be battling for a lot more moolah, with a prize pool of $5,000 split between the top eight contestants. 

To make things more interesting, the top eight teams from the first open tournament will qualify for the first 16 team pro tournament. They’ll then face off against the top eight teams from DreamHack Anaheim, which was the last major Halo esports tournament held back in February. 

It’s a chance to either prove you’re the Halo pro the world has been missing out on, then, or an opportunity to be humbled by the very best in the business.

Here are all the key dates you’ll need:

  • 05/23/2020 (Open)
  • 05/30/2020 (Pro)
  • 06/6/2020 (Open)
  • 06/13/2020 (Pro)
  • 06/20/2020 (Open)
  • 06/27/2020 (Pro)
  • 07/4/2020 (Holiday, no tournament)
  • 07/11/2020 (Open)
  • 07/18/2020 (Pro)

If you’d like to compete (and potentially win some cash), you can sign up and register at FACEIT. Time to get training, Spartan.

Adam Vjestica

Adam was formerly TRG's Hardware Editor. A law graduate with an exceptional track record in content creation and online engagement, Adam has penned scintillating copy for various technology sites and also established his very own award-nominated video games website. He’s previously worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor and once played Halo 5: Guardians for over 51 hours for charity. He is now an editor at The Shortcut.