A sudden change to the prize pool of the Halo World Championship less than a week before it begins has left former Apex Legends competitor Snip3down feeling exasperated with the HCS organizers. A crowdfunding boost to the base $1,000,000 prize pool, promised since the beginning of Halo Infinite‘s first competitive season, has been backtracked on at the last minute and left him regretting his switch from competing in Apex.
“Only a week before worlds and they decide to take away crowdfunding,” he lamented in a post following the announcement. “Wish I wasn’t lied to when deciding to make the switch. Never would have left Apex.”
Other pro players in the Halo scene mirrored his sentiment, with even those less bothered by the smaller prize pool for the World Championship calling the lack of communication and the backtrack on a promise in place since day one an embarrassing display. “This just ultimately feels like a slap in the face to all of us,” said FaZe Clan’s Spartan. “It was advertised as $1,000,000 + crowdfunding. Sigh.”
When some fans called out Snip3down for hinging his reason to switch to Halo Infinite on the prize pool for Worlds, he gestured toward previous examples of crowdfunding in Halo 5: Guardians, where the increased prize pool that crowdfunding created increased the winnings from first place “from 100k each to 250k, so yes. It makes a difference.” Even a day after the announcement broke, he continued to vent his frustrations, likening the situation to “your employer promising something all year, then a week before your paycheck, they just say ‘nah we take it back, we will put it towards next year’ and expect you to have any trust in them,” in one reply.
The lack of trust in the HCS no doubt stems from more than just the crowdfunding controversy, with Halo Infinite‘s first year mired by issues with both the game itself and online tournaments that suffered from server and custom game instability. Just last week, the format announced for the World Championship had to be changed after the original plan for the tournament weekend was slammed by pro players for its lack of matches and opportunities for teams that struggled in pool play.
What Snip3down’s frustrations mean for his career after the World Championship is unclear, but with his outspoken regrets on moving back to Halo from Apex with the launch of Infinite, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him seek opportunities in the battle royale again in the future.