New Halo game required by 2026 or Halo Championships may lack a tournament game

Halo Studios is likely to release a new Halo game sometime in 2026 to ensure that HCS has an actual game that can be played for tournament competition.

New Halo game required by 2026 or Halo Championships may lack a tournament game
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Senior Gaming Editor
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TL;DR: Halo Infinite will retire from official Halo Championship Series esports after the 2024 World Championship, signaling a shift toward a new Halo game expected in 2026. While Halo Studios will continue supporting Infinite, the next mainline Halo title is likely to replace it in competitive tournaments, marking a new era for Halo esports.

Halo Infinite is being retired from esports tournaments, which means one of two things: A new Halo game will be ready in 2026 to replace Halo Infinite's place in esports, or Halo Studios could shut down the Halo Championship Series altogether.

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The devs at Halo Studios are moving on from Halo Infinite, at least in the official capacity for esports tournaments. While the studio will continue supporting Halo Infinite, the game will be pulled from Xbox's Halo Championship Series (HCS) competition.

"Once a world champion is crowned in October, the HCS will be retiring Halo Infinite from Official HCS Competition," the studio writes in an update.

This brings us to the obvious question: What game will replace Halo Infinite for the tournaments (assuming HCS will continue)?

Both Halo Studios and Xbox CEO Phil Spencer have teased that a new Halo game will be revealed in 2026 to coincide with Xbox's big 25th anniversary.

In fact, Halo Studios teased that the next Halo game could be revealed in Octoberduring the aforementioned HCS esports tournament.

Back in 2024, the team confirmed that multiple new Halo games were in development in Unreal Engine 5. These games are believed to be a Halo CE remake with a PS5 release, but reports indicate that this game may not have any sort of multiplayer.

If that's true, then the game replacing Halo Infinite could be the next mainline game in the series--the HCS obviously requires online multiplayer.

Check below for Halo Studios' full statement on Halo Infinite's retirement for HCS:

Over the next few months, the HCS will host the 2 planned Majors as well as the almost sold out and highly anticipated Halo World Championship on October 24-26. Once a world champion is crowned in October, the HCS will be retiring Halo Infinite from Official HCS Competition.

Once a world champion is crowned in October, the HCS will be retiring Halo Infinite from Official HCS Competition

This means we will still support Halo Infinite and the tournament scene in 2026, but HCS will be moving on from Halo Infinite for official competition following this year's Halo World Championship.

As the studio continues to shift more and more towards the next era of Halo, we feel this is the right time for Official HCS Competition to move on from Halo Infinite.

Year 4 will be the final Official HCS events for Halo Infinite, and now's your last chance to be part of this momentous chapter of Halo esports history.