Activision Announces Call of Duty World League

Activision has finally unveiled their plans for the next year of Call of Duty on Black Ops 3. After the announcement that Sony’s Playstation 4 would take over as the console of choice for competitive play and Treyarch introducing their new plans for Call of Duty eSports, it was clear that something was up. Now, Activision has officially announced the Call of Duty World League.

Read their announcement here.

According to Activision, they will be running the league and regional LAN competitions themselves. There will be two major divisions: Pro Division and Challenger Division. North America, Europe, and Australia will be the main regions of interest as they are currently the region’s most well-known for competitive Call of Duty. All regions will have their own LAN events that lead to the Call of Duty Championship at the end of the season. The regional championships are nothing new, but now that the Call of Duty Championship has been moved to the fall instead of the spring, interest in competitive Call of Duty is less likely to wane out at the end of the game cycle.

Activision has also announced $3 million in prize payouts throughout the year. This is 3-times the amount previously awarded in the Call of Duty Championship, the only competition they have previously been a part of. This amount is set to be distributed worldwide and does not include unaffiliated competitions.

The Pro Division for North America will feature 12 teams, 10 teams for Europe, and 8 teams for Australia/New Zealand. Competitions for the World League are not set to start until January 2016, two months after the release of Black Ops 3.

Not many details were given for the Challenger Division, but regional events are planned and will offer an opportunity for teams to qualify for the Call of Duty Championship.

More details about the Call of Duty World League will be given at a later time. A more detailed FAQ addressed some simple questions.