SBJ Esports: Complexity lauds Halo Championship Series management

As Complexity CEO Jason Lake tells it, 343 Industries, the developer of Halo Infinite that handles league operations for the Halo Championship Series, is proving to be a strong management team, providing effective communication with franchised teams. 

That communication was a big selling point for Complexity, which made the leap to join the HCS in late 2022, even as the series was seeing slumping viewership . Beyond keeping lines of communication open, 343 has handled the sale of team-branded digital items in the online store, where teams receive a cut. Additionally, teams may field their own branded competitions as part of the official HCS circuit.

The whole package, combined with lower salary needs for players, has made the HCS a solid proposition for partner franchises. “343 wants to engage the teams more as partners, than as some dictatorial, ‘Hey, you’re lucky to be involved with our game’ [perspective],” Lake told SBJ. “We like their platform. We like how they engage with their teams.”

Lake said that across esports, team leaders are seeing more game developers adopt an approach similar to 343 in finding new ways to create monetization options -- a much-needed revenue source for teams as sponsorship opportunities are tight and media revenue is essentially nonexistent. Lake also highlights creativity from 343, like last weekend’s HCS competition, during which fans could play the new season’s content in Halo Infinite early.

HCS live events, operated by Esports Engine, are also drumming up decent crowds. At Dreamhack Dallas last weekend (an event that had over 44,000 total attendees for all competitions over the course of the three-day festival), the HCS grand finals match between FaZe Clan and Spacestation Gaming saw seats in front of the Halo stage that were decidedly full (including a number of fans standing).

The next HCS event will be hosted by Spacestation in Salt Lake City, and Spacestation CEO Shawn Pellerin tells SBJ the group expects foot traffic of 1,500+ for the solo esports event. -- Hunter Cooke

When pitching Overwatch League and Call of Duty League to potential team investors, Activision Blizzard laid out how money from media-rights deals would bring in big revenue. And that’s exactly what happened -- at first -- in the form of a  three-year, $160 million deal with YouTube  starting in early 2020. That deal expired before the start of this season, and CDL moved back to Twitch -- but without any money coming in.

In terms of viewership, that move has paid off. Data from Stream Hatchet shows that CDL saw its hours watched jump 3x in Q1 vs. the same period last year, mostly due to a number of popular live co-streaming options on Twitch. And not only has CDL jumped on Twitch, but Stream Hatchet also reports that in Q1 2023, Twitch dominated all live esports viewership with 65% market share vs. YouTube’s 28% at No. 2.

So why did Activision this week surprise the industry by reportedly being in the process of inking a two-year deal to return to YouTube starting next season (terms of which have not been made available)?

The answer likely lies not in media dollars, but in the lengthy process of Microsoft seeking to acquire Activision Blizzard. As it stands, Activision uses Google Cloud as a major provider for some of its game-hosting infrastructure. Sources tell SBJ that the call to leave Amazon-owned Twitch for Google-owned YouTube came from higher-ups, with the esports operation division and team owners not having much, if any, say in the matter.

Consolidating deals around Google/YouTube may look cleaner on paper and make for a smoother acquisition process. One potential hurdle? If this move is being made for the betterment of the acquisition, and Microsoft after closing a deal subsequently punts on esports or farms it out to third parties with little to no support, the CDL is, in the short term, locked into a platform with around a third of the audience it was seeing on Twitch. --  Kevin Hitt

• OverActive Media, the parent company of the Toronto Defiant, announced that outstanding entry fees for the Overwatch League are to be waived entirely, and provisions for the parties to further change the OWL business plan are now in place as part of a larger agreement. SBJ sources confirmed that the entire OWL also has had their remaining entry fees waived.

• Secrecy about Valve's plans for the release of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 2 has ESL Faceit Group, which organizes many of the marquee CS:GO esports majors, in a holding pattern in terms of preparation for future events around the globe.

• Riot, the developer of League of Legends, and Coca-Cola "collaborated to make a new flavor of Coke, dubbed Coke Ultimate, " which will release in both regular and zero sugar, in both the U.S. and Canada, for a limited time starting on June 12, reports Dot Esports.

• Esports festival Dreamhack Dallas, run by ESL FaceIt Group and featuring competitions around CS:GO, the Halo Championship Series, collegiate Rocket League, Fortnite and other titles, boasted a 33% year-over-year attendance increase.

• GameSquare Esports "launched the GameSquare Creator Network," a creator marketing platform that should showcase its roster of influencers that includes the likes of former NBA player J.R. Smith, Cowboys CB Trevon Diggs and UFC fighter Max Holloway, notes Esports Insider.