Halo's official esports tournament is moving on from Halo Infinite next year, so those rumors of a new Halo game in 2026 just got way more convincing

The Halo Championship Series, the shooter's official live esports event, is moving on from Halo Infinite next year, which prompts some obvious questions about Master Chief's future.

Halo Studios announced as much in a blog post where it said that two upcoming Majors and a full-fat Halo World Championship are still coming later this year. But "once a world champion is crowned in October, the HCS will be retiring Halo Infinite from Official HCS Competition." The studio said Halo Infinite's competitive scene will still receive support, though it'll be "moving on from Halo Infinite for official competition."

Esports lead Tahir 'Tashi' Hasandjekic explained the move comes "as the studio continues to shift more and more towards the next era of Halo." Some reports said that a potential Halo: Combat Evolved remake could be in the pipeline, and Xbox's Phil Spencer also recently teased that "the return of a classic that's been with us since the beginning" will come in 2026. I'm starting to connect some dots...

Before hopium completely takes over, we should keep in mind that Tashi also told folks "the studio is fully focused on the future of Halo," but the Official HCS competition won't return with a new title in 2026. That doesn't completely rule out the possibility of a new Halo game, however - it just means whatever comes probably won't have a multiplayer component.

Last year, Halo Studios announced it was working on multiple games in the series, so it wouldn't be too outlandish to think the potential Halo: CE refresh is simply reimagining the classic's campaign, and might be followed by a different multiplayer-focused game sometime after. It would at least streamline development after Infinite's reportedly messy production.

Here's the top 10 best Halo games to help you catch up.