Halo 5 Developer is Serious About Esports, New Multiplayer Maps Unveiled

There are a ton of new details about 343's upcoming game Halo 5: Guardians, which surfaced over at Gamescom 2015 thanks to Microsoft's presentation of the game at the event.

One of the big reveals about Halo 5 at Gamescom 2015 is an improved focus on esports, which Microsoft and 343 seem to think is a pretty big deal. Their stance on esports is in contrast to Doom developer id Software's. At QuakeCon this year, id Software stated that their focus with Doom's multiplayer has been to entertain people on their couches rather than professional gamers. It's a stance that makes sense given how little success most games with a focus on esports seem to get, especially when they have to compete with the likes of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and the Call of Duty games. 

In any case, there's even a New York Times article on 343 and Microsoft's esports focus with Halo 5, where they're talking about how the phenomenon is going to be a crucial part of their multimillion-dollar marketing machine. They have since announced that they plan to give away a million dollars in prize money.

Bonnie Ross, the head of 343 Industries, even compared professional gamers to celebrities. 

“The pros who play e-sports are famous,” said Bonnie Ross, the head of 343 Industries, the Microsoft game studio here in the Seattle suburbs that develops Halo. “They’re icons who people who look up to. These are people that fans aspire to be.”

343 says that the studio will not be repeating the same mistakes it made with Halo 4, which was notorious for its poor multiplayer balance and will instead be "getting back to what the core of the game is," meaning it'll play more like Halo 3. 

Beyond the esports focus, hardcore Halo fan HaloFollower has put together a breakdown of the game's multiplayer modes with a look at all of the new maps shown off during Gamescom 2015. Watch it below.