The "Halo" community is once again in the limelight, this time the game's greatest players are teaming up for more than just bragging rights. Microsoft announced on Feb. 22 that the "Halo" World Championship will have a total prize pool of $2.5 million.

The "Halo" World Championship will pit the world's greatest "Halo" players against one another in a tournament that features "Halo 5: Guardians." The event will take from on March 18 to March 20 in Hollywood. Microsoft is yet to confirm the exact venue of the event.

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Reports indicate that the prize pool will be the seventh largest prize pool in E-sports gaming history and the highest ever for a first-person shooter video game. Analysts claim that while a majority of E-sports games are on the PC platform, titles like "Halo" are enjoying a huge success in the market even though it is on the console platform.

Experts believe that the E-sports market will grow into a $463 million industry this year and will turn into a $1.1 billion market by 2019.

"Halo" has also created a name for itself outside of the E-sports platform. The game is one of the most profitable franchises in video game history. Its latest iteration - "Halo 5: Guardians" - earned at least $400 million in its first week of sales.

About 16 teams will battle each other to be crowned the world's best "Halo" players. Eight teams hail from North America; Team Allegiance, Counter Logic Gaming, Evil Geniuses, Noble eSports, Team Liquid, Triggers Pound, Renegades, and Denial eSports.

Four teams are from Europe, Africa and Middle East region; FabE, Epsilon eSports, Team Infused, and excel.

Two team are from Australia; Team Exile5 and Team Immunity. One team is from Asia, Skyfire. One team from Latin America, Chosen Squad.

The initial prize pool of the tournament was $1 million. However, the pool was raised through crowdfunding from "Halo" fans.

Tagshalo, Halo News, Halo World Championship, Halo World Championship prize pool, Halo prize pool, Halo 5: Guardians, Halo 5