After Wednesday’s announcement that Complexity joins the HCS partnership program next year alongside Quadrant, uncertainty around the status of many of its currently partnered organizations has come back into focus.
Today, both Fnatic and Spacestation Gaming announced it has parted ways with its Halo rosters, joining eUnited, which similarly announced it was releasing its roster last week.
While the esports circuit for Halo Infinite has undoubtedly been a major success for developer 343 Industries, the state of the game itself has only recently taken a positive turn with the Winter Update. This has led to worries about whether or not the partnership program could retain the large organizations that it brought in at launch.
Fnatic and eUnited’s plans for year two of the Halo Championship Series remain unclear, but at least for Spacestation, the organization is just looking for a fresh start. It will be a relief for fans concerned that a mass exodus of teams could have come following the World Championship’s conclusion.
“We are not leaving Halo,” Spacestation CEO Shawn “Unit” Pellerin said. “We’ve got some exciting plans ahead for next year of the HCS and will continue to support the competitive scene. Our focus will be having a team who will bring us home some trophies.”
Fnatic is playing its cards closer to its chest. The organization only promised “further updates about our future in the title” at an unspecified time, a footnote added beneath the announcement that it was releasing the roster that brought home a top-eight finish at Worlds last month.
“Thanks to all the boys that were involved in Year One of Fnatic Halo,” Fnatic team director Colin Johnson said in reply to the post. “Enjoyed working with all of them and am sure they have bright futures ahead.”
With the tumultuous year of competition that FNATIC had in Halo Infinite, from a top-20 finish in the NA Super to the fairytale run that netted them top-eight at Worlds, the organization could be looking to sign a top team that offers greater consistency. If Spacestation is on the hunt for a team that can get them some trophies, Fnatic may likely be doing the same.
The status of eUnited is the one currently raising the most questions, as its own announcement of a full roster release came last week and without further information about its plans for the upcoming year. The team also released Echidna, a Halo content creator. With Snip3down retiring from Halo and returning to Apex Legends, the team already looked to be in need of a fourth player for the OpTic Halo Invitational in December, but now we will have to wait and see if the organization will be present there at all.
“An absolute pleasure working with every iteration of our roster this year,” eUnited’s VP of esports Matthew Potthoff said. “I’m going to miss them deeply and know they will continue to thrive.”
It’s still a few months until year two of the HCS officially kicks off with the Charlotte Major in February. While both OpTic and Spacestation are hosting events in the intermission, there’s a good chance we may have to wait to get concrete information on the status of the partnership program and the organizations involved in Halo Infinite‘s 2023 season.
