The competitive scene for Halo is set for a massive re-launch in 2018. With the full backing of the Electronic Sports League and Major League Gaming, we expect some much higher production values and broadcast quality compared to last year’s disastrous presentation, which left casual and hardcore fans alike extremely unhappy with the organizers.
This guide will outline how to watch Halo esports events online via your computer and mobile device ahead of the action, and where you can find the best live-streaming sites and video-sharing platforms to watch the Halo World Championship, either in real-time or when you get a proper chance to catch up.
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How to watch Halo esports competitions online
You can watch all Halo World Championship qualifiers, play-offs and finals for free via several live-streaming and video-sharing sites from the comfort of home.
Esports events like the HaloWC aren’t typically broadcast on television networks, but are instead live-streamed in real-time by tournament organizers. The coverage is uploaded directly to live-streaming sites like MLG.tv, Twitch.tv and YouTube, all of which specialise in esports and video game content.
All you need is an Internet connection and a computer or mobile device, and you can watch all HaloWC events uploaded on the organizer’s official channels, either live or after the fact.
Coverage for the HaloWC is provided by the official tournament organizers, Major League Gaming, in partnership with the Electronic Sports League, as well as sponsored by the developer and publisher of the Halo franchise 343 Industries and Microsoft Studios.
This year’s tournament has a more significant investment from all parties, and we’re expecting some much more impressive game stations, better venues and top-notch production quality.
What does it mean to live-stream Halo esports events?
Live stream or live-streaming is when a video-sharing site broadcast live coverage of a tournament and upload it on the Internet, allowing fans all over the world to watch the action in real-time or after the event is over.
The term is used heavily among video gaming and esports circles, so you would be forgiven for thinking it’s only associated with games. However, you can watch live-streams of many different types of video content.
The competitive gaming industry popularised the medium so much that live-streaming sites remain the primary consumption method to watch the latest esports, despite traditional television networks and premium cable channels in North America and South Korea are starting to broadcast their own esports content in the last few years.
In the case of Halo, the professional and competitive scene surrounding the game is not as popular as Dota 2 or League of Legends, so expect to only be able to watch Halo esports through sites like MLG and Twitch.
Below, we list the official live-streaming channels to watch Halo esports.
Where to watch Halo esports on Twitch
Halo has an official Twitch.tv channel run by 343 Industries and Microsoft Studios, the franchise’s developer and publisher, respectively.
With over 200,000 subscribers, the channel broadcasts and live-streams the latest Halo esports events held around the world, including the Halo World Championship. It also has full catalogues of all past Halo esports events, like the Halo Championship Series at Dreamhack, to watch at your convenience, without the need to sign up for an account.
The Electronic Sports League also has a Twitch channel dedicated exclusively for their Halo-sponsored events, and we fully expect the account to upload fresh footage for this year’s HaloWC.
Halo esports – Where to watch on Twitch
Where to watch Halo esports on Mixer
Mixer is the official live-streaming platform owned by Microsoft, the umbrella company of Microsoft Studios, the publishers of the Halo franchise. As such, it’s only natural that the competitive Halo tournaments they are sponsoring will be live-streamed and hosted on their platform.
As much as gamers love to rag on Microsoft’s initiatives, Mixer has proven to be a pretty cool platform for watching video game and esports-related content, with the site regularly giving away free digital goodies such as full game codes just for watching content on the service.
Mixer lets you sign into your Microsoft or Xbox account to watch and rack up said rewards, and there’s a functional chat-bar on the side of every video to engage with the Halo esports community while watching the event in real-time.
While nothing has been announced for Halo World Championships specifically, we fully expect there to be some incentive or giveaway to tune in on Mixer. Halo is their baby, after all.
Halo esports – Where to watch on Mixer
Where to watch Halo esports on YouTube
YouTube is the most accessible and popular online video-sharing site in the world, so it’s no surprise competitive Halo coverage is offered there.
The official Halo Waypoint YouTube channel uploads footage of the Halo World Championship and past live-streams, in addition to new gameplay trailers and announcements.
There aren’t as many live-streams of Halo tournaments on there as other sources, so it’s best for fans who want to catch up on the action after the fact.
Halo esports – Where to watch on YouTube
Where to watch Halo esports on Major League Gaming
Wait, what about Major League Gaming? They’re the sponsors right?
We were a little confused initially with the lack of a dedicated Halo esports live-stream or video section on the current incarnation of MLG.tv, the organization’s live-streaming platform. But over on Halo Waypoint, it has been confirmed MLG will broadcast and upload live-streams of all Halo World Championship events – qualifiers and finals series – on a special Halo-only hub on the MLG official website.
Keep this page bookmarked, as we will update this section with links once the HaloWC is closer to commencing.
How popular is Halo esports on live-streaming sites?
The latest stats for Halo esports viewership numbers came from Microsoft and Xbox, who confirmed the Halo World Championship 2017 Finals, broadcast and organized by the Electronic Sports League, attracted more than 13 million unique viewers and more than 10 million viewers who watched the tournanment live on Twitter via a special promotion.
At its peak, the HaloWC 2017 event captured more than 135,000 concurrent viewers across multiple live-streaming platforms and social media networks, including Beam, Facebook, Twitch and Twitter.
Those numbers were the highest ever for any Halo esports event, which was impressive given the controversy surrounding the low production quality and questionable venue fans complained about at the time. With Major League Gaming joining up with ESL to produce the 2018 HaloWC, we have more faith that it will be an amazing year to watch.
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Where can I bet on Halo esports tournaments?
Betting markets are not yet up for Halo World Championship qualifiers, but expect the best esports betting sites we have reviewed to take bets on all Halo esports events this year.
If you are reading our content from United States, our top-rated site for customers from your region to bet on competitive Halo tournaments is BetOnline. Claim exclusive bonuses just by signing up through EsportBet, which you can put towards your overall esports betting experience.