By now you know Microsoft is serious about making Halo 5: Guardians into a real eSports contender, and it's using Gamescom to remind everyone of those ambitions.
The showing started with a multiplayer trailer, featuring some live shoutcasting to showcase the game's attention on that community, and ended with highlights from a match between the UK's Epsilon eSports and US-based OpTic Gaming (spoiler: Epsilon won, you can watch the video at the bottom of this post). But first ...
... most notably is this announcement of a $1 million prize pool for the first ever Halo World Championships happening this winter. "Halo has always been synonymous with online competition and was an originator in console eSports," Halo 5 executive producer Josh Holmes said on stage. "With Halo 5: Guardians we are fully embracing that legacy with the biggest investment in Xbox eSports history. Get ready for the first-ever Halo World Championship coming this winter with a prize pool of over $1 million dollars."
