On the brink of publishing another Call of Duty title, Activision has announced a new Call of Duty e-sports competition.
The plan is to expand from an annual tournament to a year-round international league a la League of Legends and DOTA 2. The publishing company is also increasing the competition’s prize pool from $1 million to a whooping $3 million.
Whether you are an amateur or a professional, you’ll have a place in the competition. The year-round tournament will feature all sorts of divisions aimed at newcomers and veterans alike. At the end of the year, a championship will be held to crown the best team/player.
Rob Kostich, who is the Senior VP and General Manager for Activision’s Call of Duty, said that this will be a cornerstone for Call of Duty e-sports. He continues to add that Activision is keeping up their promise of promoting professional gaming across the world. They want to make a fun and competitive year that will culminate with a huge Call of Duty championship.
The official name for the championship will be Call of Duty World League. The Californian-based Activision says that the competition will start at the beginning of 2016 with league-like events in New Zealand, Australia, Europe and North America. The Santa-Monica publisher says that there will be three territories that will feature independent seasons. This will eventually lead to 32 teams qualifying for the Fall 2016 Call of Duty e-sports competition.
The company first hosted a Call of Duty e-sports competition in 2011 with a prize pool of $1 million. Since 2013, it has been an annual event.
Kostich wants these kind of e-sports events to have a deeper impact on the average gamer. He, along with Activision, wants to encourage pro gamers to delve more into their hobby, while at the same time entice aspiring competitors and casual fans to take up Call of Duty on a more serious level.
Call of Duty’s Senior Director of Product Management, Sam Cooper notes that their goal is to help the crème de la crème actually make money by competing in events aimed at pro gamers. The top 150 professional player will have the possibility to make a living by playing Call of Duty.
However, he didn’t comment about the financial prospects that this entails. What figures are you talking about Sam Cooper?
Events will be broadcast online, but Sam refused to specify what service they will be primarily using – Twitch, or Google’s YouTube Gaming platform?
To continue the trend, Kostich also refused to comment regarding the sensitive subject if Activision would test players for drugs.
The Electronic Sports League started administering random drug tests during the ESL One Cologne tournament this August.
Michael Turner
