The Halo Championship Series (HCS) has unveiled an array of rewards that will be available through HCS Charlotte Major 2025 Twitch drops throughout the event.

The final Halo Infinite Major of 2025 is taking place from October 3rd to 5th, 2025, with viewers able to earn a range of in-game rewards by watching the action.

Starting on October 3rd, viewers tuning into the main HCS Charlotte 2025 broadcast can earn several cosmetic items by watching the action for varying lengths of time. Before teams take to the stage, the HCS has revealed all of the items on offer, in addition to how to unlock the items.

To earn the rewards, fans must watch the event on Halo’s Twitch channel or watch parties hosted by co-streamers, and link their Halo Waypoint profiles to their Twitch accounts.

The full list of items available and their unlock times can be found below:

For fans who have already linked their accounts for HCS Salt Lake City, tune into the stream once it goes live to start earning.

The HCS Charlotte Major 2025 event is the final event before attention turns to the season-ending Halo World Championship. 16 teams from across the world will compete for a share of a $250,000 (~£186,112) prize pool.

After announcing 2025 would be the final year of the HCS using Halo Infinite as its esports title, 343 Industries continues to support the Halo esports ecosystem.

On September 23rd, 2025, it unveiled the Meltdown collection that features seven team bundles for organisations that form its partner programme.

The Halo Championship Series (HCS) has unveiled the Meltdown collection featuring team bundles themed after the 2025 partnered organisations.

Seven weapon coatings will be available, alongside the Promethean Heatwave model, for Halo Infinite starting September 23rd, 2025.

These are all of the teams that are included in the HCS Meltdown collection:

According to the official trailer, the Promethean cosmetic model for the Heatwave weapon will be awarded to players with the first purchase of an HCS Meltdown skin. The skins themed after the partnered teams can also be applied to any weapon in the game.

As of writing, prices have yet to be revealed, though it is likely to fall in line with previous HCS bundles, which were worth between 1,300 (~$12.99/£10.39) and 1,500 (~$14.99/£11.99) credits.

It is not the first time HCS has crossed over into Halo Infinite in 2025. The HCS launch bundle was introduced earlier this year with the REAP-X model for the Shock Rifle and included seven multi-weapon use coatings themed after competitive teams.

The HCS Meltdown collection arrives at a crucial point for the Halo esports scene, as the competition ramps up ahead of the Halo World Championship later this year.

The Charlotte Major is scheduled to begin on October 3rd in North Carolina, US. It will see the top 16 teams from the regional qualifiers and open brackets compete for the lion’s share of a $250,000 (~£185,000) prize pool.

The top eight teams from the tournament will also qualify for the World Championship in Seattle, Washington. The international event will see 16 teams from both the major and global HCS rankings go head-to-head for a $1m (~£740,000) prize pool. It will begin on October 24th to 26th, 2025.

Earlier this year, the HCS announced it would be retiring Halo Infinite from official competition at the end of the year. As a result, the Halo World Championship will be the last HCS-sanctioned event featuring the shooter title.

Two members of the OpTic Gaming Halo roster have announced their free agency ahead of the Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 season.

The news follows the Halo Championship Series retiring Halo Infinite from official competition at the end of the 2025 season.

On August 27th, 2025, Adam ‘Bound’ Gray and Jonathan ‘Renegade’ Willette both revealed their intentions to compete in Call of Duty next season after finishing second at the Salt Lake City Major.

This year is the final season of the HCS using Halo Infinite for esports competition as 343 Industries turns its attention ‘towards the next era of Halo.’ Notably, Halo’s official esports circuit will not be returning for 2026, resulting in some of the arena shooter title’s biggest names switching to Call of Duty.

Both Bound and Renegade are no strangers to success within Halo esports. In 2024, Bound was part of the dominant Spacestation Gaming roster that won every single Major, along with the 2024 World Championship.

Renegade is a two-time Halo world champion with victories in 2018 and 2023, representing Splyce and FaZe Clan respectively.

This year, OpTic Gaming has cemented itself as one of the strongest Halo rosters in the world, winning the Arlington and Dallas Majors in April and May. Thanks to its second-place finish at Salt Lake City, the Green Wall has qualified for HCS Charlotte, taking place in early October.

With the Call of Duty League (CDL) off-season in full swing, several franchises are overhauling their rosters ahead of the new season.

Halo players are no strangers to moving into Call of Duty esports and finding success. In recent years, Anthony ‘Shotzzy‘ Cuevas-Castro and Matt ‘FormaL‘ Piper have moved titles and become some of Call of Duty’s most successful players, with several world championship titles to their names.

Having already won several tournaments in Halo, Bound and Renegade have the ability and potential to become the next wave of talent to make the jump and leave an impact.

Ahead of the PlayStation Studios title landing on Xbox this week, Arrowhead Games is launching a Helldivers 2 x Halo: ODST crossover in the shape of a Legendary Warbond.

Arrowhead Games said that the Obedient Democracy Support Troopers are the unit “every Super Earth citizen had on their school lunch box as a kid,” in a homage to Xbox’s most recognisable franchise. The ODST, obvious inspiration for the Helldivers, will be released in the form of their iconic armour, capes, and weaponry.

Launching on August 26, 2025, at 5am PT / 1pm BST, here’s everything you need to know about the Helldivers 2 and Halo: ODST crossover.

The Helldivers 2 x Halo: ODST Legendary Warbond is new content for Helljumpers to dig into, but far beyond that, it’s also an important milestone in an age-old gaming rivalry. Despite rumours of Halo remakes landing on PlayStation consoles, we’ve yet to see that come to fruition. Instead, Helldivers 2’s crossover marks (one of) the first instances that Halo’s IP has been on PlayStation.

There was a Master Chief skin in Fortnite, though the gravitas of the event is far from the scale of this.

This means that this Legendary Warbond is the first major appearance of Halo on PlayStation. It’s especially fitting as PlayStation Studios’ hugely successful Helldivers franchise will be committing itself to Xbox consoles the same day the Warbond launches.

The MA5C is a nod to Halo’s iconic assault rifle; fully automatic, mid-range and solid accuracy. It appears to strike a balance between the Liberator and the Breaker.

The M7S on the other hand, an SMG, appears to offer more parity with the stealth loadouts that ODST will herald.

The same can be said for the M6C/SOCOM pistol, for the first time in Helldivers – a pistol equipped with a suppressor.

Both of the armour sets, the A-9 Helljumper and A-35 Recon set, are equipped with the Feet First passive, which grants the following buffs:

There are also vehicle patterns for your FRV, exosuit, shuttle, and hellpod. These can all be paired with Halo-themed player banners and a player title.

However, this does all come at a price. The Helldivers 2 x Halo: ODST Legendary Warbond is going to set players back 1,500 Super Credits, an increase of 500 over typical warbonds. The full cost of this Warbond roughly equates to £12 in the UK or $14 in the US. The increased price is likely to cover the licensing costs of bridging Xbox with its biggest rival, though it is significantly more expensive.

Another caveat is the fact that Legendary Warbonds are not compatible with the new Premium Warbond Tokens that are launching on August 26. Only Super Credits can be used to purchase this, so upgrades granted by the Super Citizen Earth Edition won’t be valid.

The first real crossover between Halo and PlayStation has had fans labelling it as the “end of the console war era,” with others wittily remarking that it’s occurring with “both sides in immense shitstorms, very romantic.”

In reference to the discussion between Xbox and PlayStation cementing this crossover, one fan said that it would have been “30 minutes of awkward silence before some rookie intern showed them a graph of how much money they could actually make.”

There’s no reason to believe that this won’t be an extremely commercially successful event for both publishers, too. This Legendary Warbond is 50% more expensive than typical warbonds, and fans seem perfectly happy to front the cost of this.

Some have even said that the price is “not bad at all, I thought it would be like 3,000 or something”, while others have said that it’s so good that they would be prepared to start playing the game again entirely.

In fact, the crossover’s announcement saw player counts on Steam rise to their highest in the last two weeks, though the actual Warbond launch will likely surpass this. 

Helldivers 2 has, quite naturally, been seeing a gradual decline in its player base. It’s currently averaging its lowest sum since it launched. That does seem quite likely to change with the new Halo crossover and huge flood of Xbox players picking it up for the first time.

One thing that fans have noted in comments left on the PlayStation Blog announcement is that the game now “[needs] more PlayStation characters stuff.” The only other major crossover is the Killzone event, also a PlayStation game, though unlike the Legendary Warbond, that event is no longer available to anyone who wasn’t playing at the time.

The crossover between Helldivers 2 and Halo: ODST in the form of a Legendary Warbond has been incredibly well-received by fans. Likewise, the introduction of more baked-in recon and stealth builds is going to offer new ways to play the game. As we approach the launch on August 26, alongside the Xbox launch, we’re anticipating a huge spike in players returning to Arrowhead’s breakout success.

The Halo Championship Series (HCS) has adjusted its map pool ahead of the Charlotte Major, the final Major of the Halo: Infinite cycle.

As a result of the adjustment, Solitute King of the Hill and Streets Oddball will no longer feature in HCS competitions for the remainder of the year.

Arriving in their place is Lattice, a community-created map that will feature across all three modes used in Halo esports.

The HCS says it will ‘continue to monitor community feedback and data on all gametypes’ as the 2025 season nears its conclusion.

“Lattice will be entering HCS with King of the HIll, Oddball, and Strongholds,” revealed the HCS in a blog post. “With that, we felt it was appropriate to swap out some gametypes as new ones are introduced.”

Despite having a dedicated circuit and several established organisations as part of its partnership programme, Halo esports has seen a sharp drop in viewing figures following the Arlington Major in April.

After recording a peak of 112,541 viewers in Arlington, the Dallas Open and Salt Lake City Major failed to break 70,000, according to esports data platform Esports Charts.

The most watched HCS tournament remains the HCS Kickoff Major Raleigh 2021 event which hit a peak of 267,279.

This year’s HCS Charlotte Major was unveiled by FaZe Clan and will take place in October 2025.

When all of the 2025 Majors conclude, attention will turn to the season-ending World Championship, taking place at the Seattle Convention Center in Seattle, Washington.

16 teams from across the world will compete for a share of a $1m (~£751,280) prize pool and the chance to be crowned the final champion of Halo Infinite.

The next chapter of the HCS has yet to be revealed, with 343 Industries turning its attention to an unreleased Halo title.

Shopify Rebellion has won the Halo Championship Series: Salt Lake City 2025, the penultimate Halo Championship Series (HCS) Major of the season.

The North American esports organisation defeated OpTic Gaming in the Grand Final.

Shopify Rebellion commenced its Salt Lake City campaign with a flawless 3-0 win-to-loss record to secure a place in the double-elimination bracket.

The team swept aside Complexity in its first upper bracket match, before defeating FaZe Clan 3-1 to book its place in the upper bracket final.

The first encounter with OpTic Gaming was a convincing performance for Shopify Rebellion, taking the series 3-0 to send the Green Wall into the elimination bracket. OpTic managed to stay alive in the elimination bracket, beating long-time rivals FaZe Clan 3-1 to set up a second clash with Shopify Rebellion in the Grand Final.

The Green Wall did its best to get revenge for its upper bracket loss, forcing the best-of-seven series to the final map to determine the champion. However, Shopify Rebellion held strong with a 50-45 win on Live Fire Slayer to secure its first HCS title of the year.

Since its launch in 2021, Shopify Rebellion has continued to cement its position as one of North America’s prominent esports organisations.

Prior to winning HCS Salt Lake City, it had finished second at the HCS Arlington Major and fourth at the Dallas Open, becoming one of the strongest Halo teams in the world.

While the Halo team was in action, the organisation’s Rocket League roster competed in the last-chance qualifiers for the RLCS World Championship taking place in Lyon, France in September.

The LCQs saw over 300 teams competing for one spot at the World Championship, with Shopify Rebellion emerging victorious after battling through the playoffs to become North America’s fifth representative at the tournament.

However, while the organisation has expanded into multiple esports ecosystems in recent years, such as League of Legends, it has unfortunately left its first title. Earlier this month, the organisation announced its departure from Dota 2 esports.

The Halo Championship Series (HCS) has announced it will be retiring Halo Infinite from official compettion at the end of the 2025 season.

As a result, the 2025 Halo World Championship will be the last HCS-sanctioned event featuring the free-to-play arena shooter title.

While the HCS will no longer host official tournaments that form part of its esports circuit, it has confirmed it will continue to ‘support Halo Infinite and the tournament scene in 2026, but HCS will be moving on for official competition.’

Details on what the next chapter of the esports circuit have yet to be revealed. According to an announcement, 343 Industries is turning its attention ‘towards the next era of Halo,’ with reports claiming a remaster of Halo: Combat Evolved is on the cards.

The announcement also reveals the circuit will not be returning with a new Halo title next year. Instead, the studio will ‘still offer some light competition,’ by assisting with the organisation of non-HCS online and LAN events.

“HCS events have become an important gathering place for the whole community,” said Tahir ‘Tashi’ Hasandjekic, Director of Competitive Engagement at Halo.

“You’ve made it all a place where no matter why you love Halo, you can feel at home and you’ve welcomed new Halo fans to HCS who maybe never followed competitive Halo in the past. For the studio, these experiences and lessons with you all have shaped us and the games, now and into the future.”

The final HCS season will continue for the next three months, with Major events taking place in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Charlotte, North Carolina, in August and October.

Once the Majors have concluded, attention will turn to the Halo World Championship 2025, taking place in Seattle, Washington from October 24th to 26th.

FaZe Clan has announced it will host the fourth Halo Championship Series (HCS) Major of the 2025 season in Charlotte, North Carolina.

This will be the final Major of the 2025 Halo esports calendar before the season-ending Halo World Championship.

Taking place from October 3rd to 5th at the Charlotte Convention Center, the event will see amateur and professional teams from across the world competing for a share of its $250,000 (~£181,568) prize pool. Spectator tickets for the event are on sale now.

Similar to previous HCS events, the Charlotte Major will also host a Free-for-All (FFA) tournament with $5,000 (~£3,630) up for grabs.

This isn’t the first time Halo esports has descended on Charlotte, North Carolina. In 2023, the city hosted the Year 2 Kickoff Major, where 78 teams competed in the opening tournament of the HCS’s second year. OpTic Gaming defeated FaZe Clan in the Grand Final, taking home $100,000 (~£72,603) in prize money.

FaZe Clan is the third esports organisation to host a HCS event in 2025. OpTic Gaming hosted April’s Arlington Major, while Spacestation Gaming will operate the Salt Lake City Major, taking place from August 1st to 3rd.

Halo esports continues to attract new organisations looking to expand into other titles. In May, North American organisation ENVY announced its return to the esport after a four-year absence.

Despite Halo esports seeing plenty of involvement from several organisations across the world, it has struggled to maintain healthy viewership.

According to esports data platform Esports Charts, the 2025 Dallas Open attracted peak viewing figures of 46,532, a sharp decline from the 112,541 peak recorded during the Arlington Major.

Even with mixed viewership figures, 343 Industries is continuing to support the Halo esports scene with regular tournaments that also provide amateur teams an opportunity to compete against the strongest teams in the world.

The Halo Championship Series (HCS) has shared details on the HCS Dallas Open 2025 Twitch drops on offer to viewers throughout the event.

During the second Major of the 2025 Halo esports season, set to take place May 23rd-25th, viewers can earn a variety of in-game rewards by watching the action live.

Starting on May 23rd, 2025, viewers tuning into HCS Dallas streams can earn a range of cosmetic items for watching the event for varying lengths of time. Ahead of the tournament, the HCS unveiled all of the items up for grabs alongside the criteria needed to earn them.

Those watching the event on Halo’s Twitch channel will have the ability to claim the rewards. The list of items on offer and the length of watch time needed to earn each one can be found below:

Viewers can obtain the rewards by linking their Halo Waypoint profile to their Twitch accounts while watching the official tournament broadcast or when tuning in to watch parties hosted by co-streamers.

For viewers that already linked their accounts for HCS Arlington, simply tune in when the matches begin.

During HCS Arlington, five esports bundles for the series’ partner teams returned to Halo’s in-game store for players to purchase.

Following the arrival of TSM and Shopify Rebellion as its latest partners, it’s unclear if new bundles or existing ones will arrive in the store during the event.

In response to a Reddit post published in February, Tahir ‘Tashi’ Hasandjekic, Esports and Viewership Lead at 343 Industries said new bundles will arrive “later than usual.”

Following four online Open series and a Major qualifier, the HCS Dallas Open 2025 event takes place this weekend (May 23rd and 25th, 2025).

The second LAN event of the 2025 Halo season will see 16 teams from across the world compete for a share of the prize money and an opportunity to secure qualification for the second Major taking place in Salt Lake City, Utah, later this year.

HCS Dallas is one of four Majors that form Halo’s esports calendar. Esports Insider has everything there is to know about the event taking place as part of DreamHack Dallas.

The event will feature 16 teams competing in the group stage, with four teams competing against each other for a chance to secure a place in the knockout bracket.

12 of the 16 teams are determined by placements from the Arlington Major, online qualifiers, and HCS seeding points, while the other four are teams that earn a place by competing through the event’s open bracket.

The open bracket features amateur teams looking for a chance to compete against the best rosters in the world.

HCS Dallas comes with a $150,000 (~£112,193) prize pool split among the top 16 teams. In addition to prize money, teams will earn HCS Points.

Below is a full breakdown of the prize money:

Defending HCS champions OpTic Gaming head into the event as one of North America’s strongest Halo teams. After managing to defeat Shopify Rebellion by resetting the winner’s bracket advantage, the Green Wall looks to cement its position at the top of the HCS.

Shopify Rebellion will look to avenge its Arlington defeat with another strong showing in Dallas as the season nears its halfway stage.

From a European perspective, Team Nemesis and Zero Tenacity have another opportunity to show the region can compete for wins against top North American talent. Team Nemesis scored a top-six finish in Arlington and has shown glimpses of springing surprises against the more established names.

HCS Dallas will be broadcast across Halo’s Twitch and YouTube channels.

Viewers who tune into the action and watch for a specified amount of time have the opportunity to earn a wealth of rewards that include a variety of in-game cosmetics.