The Halo 5: Guardians World Championship has ended with CLG as winners, taking home a 1 million dollars (780,000 Euro) prize after their battle with Allegiance, but it seems that 343 Industries and Microsoft have long-term plans for the eSports side of the shooter.



The two companies are working with the ESL to launch a new Championship Series: Pro League, which will initially focus on North America and Europe and will also aim to expand to other regions, which is designed to offer high-level matches every week.
The official announcement adds, "In addition, the Halo Championship Series: Pro League will also feature a Challenger League – opening up the exciting possibilities of relegation and the opportunity for aspirational challenger teams to knock out Pro squads and replace them in the HCS Pro League standings. The qualifications? Skill and teamwork."
The new competition is designed to also serve as qualifying for the next Halo World Championship, but there are no plans about when or where it will take place.
Frank O'Connor, the leader of the 343 Industries team, says that Halo was always a competitive experience, with influences that include Doom, FIFA and Street Fighter, but with an extra focus on group action and balance.
According to the executive the Halo Championship Series and the delivery of free downloadable content for Halo 5: Guardians show that the studio wants to keep gamers engaged for the future.
eSports details are coming in the coming months All information about the Pro League, including the teams that will be part of the action and the ways that players will have to watch the action, will be revealed soon.
It will be interesting to see whether 343 Industries are planning to keep the crowdfunding system that they used for the Halo 5: Guardians World Championship, which takes some of the revenue received from the sale of REQ packs for the game and transfers it to the prize pool.
For gamers, the next big content drop for the shooter will arrive in early May and will introduce a new Skirmish at Darkstar map, and the Ghosts of Meridian package will also include other new items for characters and more options for Warzone battles.
343 Industries is also giving players a first look at Warzone Firefight, the new Player versus Environment game mode that is supposed to arrive in the summer, allowing teams of eight Spartans to face increasingly difficult waves of AI enemies.