Halo World Championship 2025: Shopify Rebellion makes history in Halo Infinite's esports swansong
The Halo World Championship 2025 was held at the Seattle Convention Center in Seattle from October 24 to 27. Held during a weekend-long festival that represented Halo Infinite's final act as an esports title, the resulting increase in community streamer activity helped it end as among the game's five most popular competitive events.
The pinnacle event of the Halo esports calendar brought together the world's 16 best teams as they battled in the 4v4 format for the ultimate trophy. It carried a joint-record prize pool of $1 million, with the winner taking home $400,000.
Shopify Rebellion eased past OpTic Gaming 4:1 in an all-American Grand Final to finish a dominant season on a high. In the process, the winner cemented its place in history as the last-ever Halo Infinite world champion.
Shopify Rebellion enjoyed a stellar 2025, winning two of the three Majors — Salt Lake City and Charlotte — while finishing second at the Arlington Major to enter the World Championship as the clear favorite. The side lived up to these lofty expectations, going undefeated on its way to claiming the label of best in the world.
The Grand Final was by far the most popular match at this coveted Halo competition, reaching 118,476 Peak Viewers (PV). The two sides' clash in the Upper Bracket Final was a distant second, attracting 88,663 PV as Shopify Rebellion won 4:1 to send OpTic Gaming to the Lower Bracket Final. The peak that the Halo World Championship 2025 hit put it among the game's five most popular competitive events.
The triumph with Shopify Rebellion also made Mathew "Royal2" Fiorante just the second player ever to win four Halo World Championships, alongside teammate Bradley "Frosty" Bergstrom. That their first HaloWC wins came almost a decade back shows how consistent they have been in putting up quality performances year after year.
What also helped the Halo World Championship 2025 do so well was the interest among community casters. Names like Seth "Scump" Abner and Charles "MoistCr1TiKaL" White Jr. were among the prominent streamers to cover the action, with the overall number of channels compared to the Halo World Championship 2024 shooting up by 17.
Impressively, most of the new channels to livestream the matches came from YouTube, no doubt helped by the recent rise in multistreaming. The red platform enjoyed rises of 114.9% and 174.1% in its watch time and peak live viewership, respectively, compared to the 2024 World Championship.
Twitch Drops also played their part in this coveted championship, part of the overarching Halo Championship Series (HCS), finishing among the most popular competitive Halo events. Trophies, Charms and Coatings were among the rewards that viewers could get their hands on.
When looking at the history of Halo esports, the Halo World Championship 2025 finished as the title's most popular tournament in around two years, since the 2023 edition. The topper, and the only entry to cross 200,000 PV, remains the HCS Kickoff Major Raleigh 2021, which benefited from being the first truly big esports tournament after Halo Infinite's release.
As fans and players gear up for a new era with the upcoming release of Halo: Campaign Evolved, there are a lot of changes happening behind the scenes in the off-season. Esports organizations like Shopify Rebellion have become supporting partners of the esports circuit, aiming to bring more Halo esports to the community in 2026. Moreover, there are no plans to host a new Halo Championship Series season for now.
It was also revealed during the Seattle competition that the organizer would bring Halo to two DreamHack events next year, starting with Birmingham from March 27 to 29. More details will be revealed later, and readers can continue to follow the Esports Charts news section for updates on the new season.
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