Gamescom 2015 Recap: Black Ops III eSports Reveal

The gamescom 2015 eSports briefing in Cologne, Germany was a huge success, revealing a ton of information about what we can expect from Call of Duty®: Black Ops III.

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The event started out with Scott Lowe, the Communications Manager at Activision, and David Vonderhaar, the Studio Design Director at Treyarch, discussing all of the newest features that will be added to Multiplayer in Black Ops III.

Vonderhaar wasted no time reintroducing the momentum based movement system and specialist system as some of the newest features for Multiplayer in Black Ops III. Vonderhaar then introduced “Arena,” which will be replacing League Play in Black Ops III as the ranked playlist.

https://twitter.com/eSportsCOD/status/628982558609534976

Next, Vonderhaar introduced the Bans and Protect system and the Specialist Draft, which are two new additions to Call of Duty eSports.

https://twitter.com/eSportsNation/status/628977914328023040

The Bans and Protect system is a way for each player on the team to vote on either banning or protecting certain guns, equipment, perks, killstreaks, etc. prior to the start of each map. After the votes for Bans and Protect system are completed, the players go to the Specialist Draft, where each individual player gets to pick their specialist ability, with only one player from each team allowed to have one specific specialist ability.

https://twitter.com/eSportsNation/status/628979308724363264

Vonderhaar also announced the addition of a live event viewer built directly into the game so that everyone can watch all of the major LAN events for Black Ops III right from the game itself. Also, the completed renovated CoDCaster mode was on display, showcasing some of the new features for broadcasters, including the ability to edit and customize team names and logos.

https://twitter.com/eSportsNation/status/628987623168720896

After all of this was announced, we were able to witness Black Ops III eSports in action for the first time, with eight of the best players from around the world showcasing this new game. We got to see Team TeePee and Team Kivi go head to head in a best-of-three series on the following maps.

• Hardpoint on Combine: Team TeePee won 250-116
• Search and Destroy on Hunted: Team Kivi won 4-2
• Uplink on Evac: Team Kivi won 9-2

After all was said and done, Vonderhaar dropped the big announcement that everyone has been waiting for; Call of Duty officially switching consoles from the Xbox One to the PlayStation 4.

https://twitter.com/eSportsNation/status/628992382336376832

What was your favorite part from the gamescom 2015 Black Ops III eSports briefing? Let us know by commenting below or tweeting us @eSportsNation.

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