Call of Duty Black Ops III is being released later this year, and Activision is wasting no time in getting it for the eSports scene. The publisher has announced the Call of Duty World League, a worldwide eSports league set up to support the CoD franchise.
The new League will be broken into two divisions, both of which will feed players directly into the Call of Duty Championship. The Pro Division will see professional Call of Duty teams in North America, Europe, and the ANZAC region will battle throughout the year in regional competition during the regular season to earn their ticket to the Call of Duty Championship. On the other hand, the Challenge Division caters to amateur players and those trying to break into the pro teams. It will also provide spots in the Call of Duty Championship for teams competing in a series of official LAN tournaments.
Schedules for the Call of Duty Championship are also being moved around to cater for the new League. The event will take place in the fall of 2016, which Activision says will give teams an extended amount of time to hone their skills in the game. It will also provide time for the League to run qualifying tournaments for teams to earn their place in the Championship.
The prize pool offered by Activision is also being expanded to US$3 million to cater for the increased number of events. This pool will cover payouts for the competitive series of games, LAN events, and the Call of Duty Championship. The amount doesn’t quite match the amounts offered by competitive MOBA games, but it is the largest prize pool ever offered in a CoD tournament.
Call of Duty Black Ops 3 is set to be released on 6 November 2015, and the Call of Duty World League is set to begin around the same time.
[Source: Business Wire]
