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Call of Duty is giving amateur eSports gamers the chance to reach the game’s professional eSports world championship via a new line of competitions, it has announced.
It will serve as a new division below the game’s Pro Division, but those who do well will take part in football-style promotion-relegation play-offs with professional gamers to potentially earn a place among the gaming elite.
In the last year or so, eSports has exploded as an event in the world of gaming – in fact it’s become a fully-fledged spectator sport taking place in arenas full of fans.
And this is what the 2015 Call of Duty World Championship looked like, for example.
The International, a 2015 tournament involving 80 gamers playing DOTA 2 had a prize pool of more than $18 million (£12.5m) – just for playing video games. The market is now at an almost unbelievable size, with Call of Duty among the games towards the top end of the big event lists.
But the hugely popular shooter is already aware that a gap exists between the professional players – the ones competing in and winning these tournaments – and the everyday COD players who maybe think they could put up a good fight.
With that in mind, Call of Duty has announced a new amateur eSports competition – the World League Challenge Division – that gives amateur teams the chance to compete for cash prizes, but should they do well even take on pros and potentially earn a place at the Call of Duty Championship, the fully professional COD world championship where the prize pot is a million dollars.
There’s a host of European events coming up to kick start this new league, including the first ever live event in Europe for the league – the EGL Open – coming up at the beginning of March.
There’s also several online events, beginning on February 20 and running into March that are open to any teams, each with prize pots of $5,000 (£3,500), and World League points up for grabs.
So if you and your mates fancy a rags-to-riches gaming story, this would be the place to start.
