: What would the perfect spectator mode be for Halo 5? I tackle this question
: in this video, drawing much inspiration from features from other games'
: spectator modes, including Call of Duty, Counterstrike, Gears of War, and
: Quake Live.

Or they could go one step further and make spectating Smartglass controlled. Basically, you would have a console that powers the spectating services (ie, runs the simulation events the host sends it, just like its clients) but then also sends out standardized information to a Smartglass connection which is then able to take that data and do what it wants to with it. The Smartglass connection could then say to the game "hey, turn the HUD off", "outline objects of type X", "go first-person on player Y", etc. So organizers could either use the game's view, or have all HUD elements turned off (including notifications like medals) and present this extra information in their own overlay, or in a sidebar.

They could then license API keys to organizers who wish to make or use these connections/information. Because hey, most of these organizations are in it to make money anyway. They could always give limited access to "free" keys, or perform some kind of tier access in the event that it's just some private or low-key event which doesn't need the full API access.