Along with the launch of Halo 5: Guardians, Microsoft and the game's developer, 343 Industries, will kick off the Halo World Championship in December, where various teams will compete in the game's Arena multiplayer mode for fame and money.
The prize pool started at $1 million, with the potential for the pot to grow with every purchase of REQ packs in Halo 5. Now, the company is reporting that the pool has grown to $1.7 million. That means that players spent at least $700,000 on the game's microtransaction feature.
These REQ packs contain various cards to use in online gameplay such as one-time use items, cosmetic equipment, and more powerful weapons. You can gain the same cards with in-game points, but for those who want to gain it faster, real-world money can be used to buy the same packs. A portion of each purchase goes to the prize pool, so the actual amount of money spent on REQ packs could be higher, but Microsoft didn't release that exact number.
This type of crowdfunding isn't exactly new, with the most notable example being Valve's Dota 2 championship tournament, The International. Players bought a digital item called "The Compendium," and 25 percent of each purchase goes towards the prize pool. The Compendium contains various cosmetic upgrades to the game, such as new weather effects for the map, new taunts for each hero, and even music packs.
This year, the prize pool for The International swelled up $18.4 million with the winning team, Evil Geniuses, picking up $6.6 million.
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Rexly Peñaflorida II is a Contributor at Tom’s Hardware. He writes news on tech and hardware, but mostly focuses on gaming news. As a Chicagoan, he believes that deep dish pizza is real pizza and ketchup should never be on hot dogs. Ever. Also, Portillo’s is amazing.
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