By Official HCS -
An important matter has come to the attention of Halo Championship Series (HCS) and Halo World Championship (HaloWC) Officials regarding player eligibility rules within the HaloWC 2017 Rulebook. Specifically, the previously published player eligibility rules would have made Aaron “ACE” Elam ineligible to compete in Halo World Championship 2017, as “...respective affiliates, subsidiaries, representatives, advertising, promotion and publicity agencies, sponsors and the immediate family members...” were listed as ineligible to compete.
The rule in question is part of outdated participant eligibility language from the older Halo World Championship 2016 Handbook, and in error, does not reflect the updated eligibility rules that have been used for the past two seasons of the Halo Championship Series play, including both Pro League and Open Circuit. The player in question (ACE) eligibly competed in the past two seasons of the Halo Championship Series: Pro League.
It was intended that the Halo World Championship program continued using the updated, aforementioned player eligibility rules in the Halo World Championship 2017, and this language was not correctly updated in the rule set. As listed in the HaloWC Rulebook, the document is considered a living document and may be updated at any time – as such, we have updated the player eligibility language to reflect the updated rules that have been used for the past two seasons of HCS play. Aaron "ACE" Elam is eligible to continue competing in the Halo World Championship 2017.
The updated rules read as follows:
Participants who are minors in their jurisdiction will be required to provide a signed consent form by a parent or legal guardian in the event they compete in the Open Live Events, or Halo World Championship 2017 Finals. Players 16 and 17 of age at the Halo World Championship Qualifier: Mexico City may compete with a signed consent form. Employees of Turtle Entertainment America, Inc. Microsoft Corporation, 343 Industries, Gfinity PLC, Ultimate Gaming Championship LLC, Comcast, and Millennial Esports Corp. are not eligible while working at their respective companies. Additionally, players who were employees of 343 Industries at any point between October 2015 through January 2017 are not eligible to compete.
We take matters regarding HCS and HaloWC rulings and rulesets very seriously, and this decision was made after extensive internal review and also shared with outside parties and stakeholders, including team managers of teams competing at the Halo World Championship 2017 Finals.
We couldn’t be more excited for the conclusion to the Halo World Championship, and hope you will join us for the finals which begin on Friday, Mar. 24, 2017.
