This blog post is part of a 📸 photography series on this website. Occasionally I take photos and aggregate them here.
Heading to the Halo World Championship in Seattle quickly became a yearly family tradition (our first shared event was in 2023). And as OpenSpartan becomes my de-facto personal Halo hub and memory capsule I thought it would be reasonable to post the photos from the event here as well.
Overall, the setup was very similar to what we had last year, and that familiarity was great - we knew right away where to go for things like the Free-For-All (FFA) tournament, the Xbox Gear Shop booth, or the Community Stage for the cosplay contest. We definitely missed seeing the voice actors we got the chance to meet last year, but maybe that’s something to look forward to in future HaloWC installments. Another year under our belt, and definitely one heck of a Grand Finals to remember.
And before we get to the photos, I want to express a massive thank you to the Halo Studios eSports team - they made it possible for my wife and I to attend the show and we had a blast. We’re already looking forward to the next year’s event.
Looking backwards towards the Free Play area.Pro player banners above the seating area.An ODST and the Halo World Championship trophy.An ODST looking towards the camera, next to the Halo World Championship trophy.A Tenrai Spartan next to the Halo World Championship trophy.UNSC officer next to the Halo World Championship trophy.Banished Spartan next to the Halo World Championship trophy.Halo World Championship trophy.Spartan with a Shock Rifle next to the Halo World Championship trophy.The Shopify Rebellion lounge.Gamers Outreach and Native Gaming booths.Free Play area.MA40 Assault Rifle at the Sentinels booth.Kat highlighted next to the Community Stage.Community Stage before the show.Jorge highlighted in red next to the Community Stage.Close-up of the Warthog.Warthog near the main entrance.Overlooking the main stage.Spartan in the main hall.Master Chief in the main hall.Emile in the main hall.Spartan overlooking the Halo World Championship banners in Seattle.Mental preparing for the show on the main stage.Halo World Championship trophy as seen on one of the stage screens.aPG walking off stage shortly before a match.Tony, Clutch, and Lottie providing commentary for ongoing matches.Tony, Clutch, and Lottie providing commentary for ongoing matches.Viewers watching teams prepare on the main stage.Folks playing classic Halo at the Shopify Rebellion booth.Folks playing Halo Infinite in the Free Play area.HOIDA247 at Halo World Championship in Seattle.VIP lounge at the Halo World Championship in Seattle.Banished Spartan with a friend at Halo World Championship in Seattle.More folks trying classic Halo titles.Spartan cosplayers in the main hall.Bravo, Tony, Clutch, and Lottie preparing for the broadcast.Bound, Blaze, and Lucid.Tony, Clutch, and Lottie providing match commentary.LVTHalo folks providing commentary.Bravo and Lottie interview Lucid and Bound.Unyshek interviewing Halo Infinite developers.Unyshek interviewing Halo Infinite developers.Blaze interviews Renegade on the main stage.Match-up between Spacestation Gaming and Faze.CTF match startup.Faze preparing for a match.Blaze interviewing Renegade.Renegade next to the Halo World Championship trophy.Blaze and Renegade on the main stage.Royal1 looks over the crowd.Renegade on the main stage.Halo World Championship trophy.Spacestation Gaming preparing for a match.Blaze interviewing Elamite, the SSG coach.Elamite on the main stage.Elamite interviewed on the main stage.Blaze asks about the keys to SSG success.Elamite and Blaze next to the Halo World Championship trophy.OpTiC Formal sharing his take on the match.Blaze interviews OpTiC Formal on the main stage.Halo Studios leadership announcing the studio rebrand.Pierre Hintze watches the stream announcing the studio rebrand and move to Unreal Engine 5.Pierre Hintze explains the rationale for the studio changes.Brian Jarrard, Halo Community Director at Halo Studios, shares his take on the changes.Chris Matthews, Studio Art Director at Halo Studios, shares his view on the news.Halo Studios leadership talks about the upcoming changes.The logos on the stage changed pretty quickly to Halo Studios.SSG on the main stage before the Grand Finals.The OpTiC Gaming team on stage before the Grand Finals.Starting scoreboard for Grand Finals.The moment folks realized that SSG might have a chance to win this.SSG are the champions.SSG on stage with the Halo World Championship trophy.SSG on stage with the Halo World Championship trophy.Blaze interviews Eco on the main stage.Blaze interviews Lqgend on the main stage.Blaze interviews Bound on the main stage.Blace interviews Stellur on the main stage.Stellur shares his take on the SSG journey to the championship.Blaze and Stellur on the main stage.Elamite holding up the Halo World Championship trophy.Elamite holding up the Halo World Championship trophy.Eco and team analyzing the newly-acquired trophy.It’s Stellur’s turn to hold the trophy.Everyone on the team gets a trophy!Shared moment of comradery on stage.Shared moment of comradery on stage.SSG excited about their win.Stellur holding the trophy.Bound holding the trophy.Lqgend holding the trophy.Eco holding the trophy.Trophies on the main stage.Bound attempting to collect ALL the trophies on the main stage.SSG posing with their trophies on the main stage.Elamite entertaining his team on stage.SSG learns something shocking from Eco.SSG on the main stage.Stellur happy he helped his team win this trophy.Elamite pointing to the trophy.Elamite holding up the main championship trophy.Eco was the designated trophy carrier after all.
