Activision just gave Call of Duty fans another reason to get excited for Black Ops III.
The publisher is creating a new, worldwide CoD eSports league with global opportunities for pros and amateurs and a $3 million prize pool. The move expands the existing CoD Championship and more than triples the available prize money.
The CoD World League will comprise two divisions — Pro and Challenge — both of which will feed into the CoD Championship this fall.
It works like this: pro CoD teams in North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand will battle throughout the year in regional competitions to earn a ticket to the Championship, where they'll compete for "the largest season cash prizes in Call of Duty to date." The Pro Division competition starts in January 2016.
The Challenge Division, meanwhile, will give amateur and aspiring pro players a chance to compete in a series of official LAN events. Winning teams in the Challenge Division will also nab a spot in the Championship.
For the first time, the CoD Championship is moving from spring to fall, giving players more time to hone their Black Ops III skills throughout the World League season. Between series payouts, LAN events, and the Championship, Activision plans to hand out that $3 million+.
Activision formed a team dedicated to launching and coordinating the World League, which will kick off with the launch of Black Ops III on Nov. 6. For more info, head over to Activision's CoD eSports site.
"Call of Duty has always been about community, camaraderie and competition, which drives incredible engagement with the game all year long," Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg said in a statement. "ESports allows us to deliver these moments to our fans whether they are playing the game themselves or cheering on those who are."
The new league comes three years after Activision held the first CoD Championships. "Since then, eSports has become a global phenomenon with more than 120 million people watching online competitive gaming each year and Call of Duty continues to lead as the top console eSports franchise in the world," Hirshberg said.
Meanwhile, Sony plans to celebrate the launch of Black Ops III with a special PlayStation 4 bundle, announced this week.
Those with the older PS3 and Xbox 360 consoles, however, will not be able to take advantage of all that Black Ops III has to offer. In a blog post, Activision said these console versions "will feature Multiplayer and Zombies gameplay only, not Campaign."
"The ambitious scope of the 1-4 player coop Campaign design of the PS4, Xbox One and PC versions could not be faithfully recreated on old generation hardware," Activision said.
Source: pcmag.com
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