Major League Gaming Announces Three-Day Esports Event MLG Vegas
Published: Oct 31, 2016 - Last Updated: Sep 25, 2019
The three-day MLG Vegas will host the first tournament of the Call of Duty World League (CWL) 2017 and an Overwatch invitational, featuring a $100,000 prize pool for each competition.
Kick-off event for CWL 2017
MLG Vegas will serve as the kick-off event for the Call of Duty World League where teams will battle for their share of the $100,000 prize pool.
The tournament will start with a pool play of 12 North American teams. Out of those 12, eight will be chosen based on results from the Call of Duty Championship, while the remaining four will get spots based on their GameBattles tournament placing.
Another 96 teams will have their chance to attend the championship on Sunday by fighting through the double elimination open bracket.
More than 1,000 teams competed in the debut season of the Call of Duty World League, with 32 making it to the Grand Event.
Fans watched more than 1.1 billion minutes of broadcasted content throughout the year, a massive success for the first-person shooter.
“The debut season of the CWL was a huge success thanks to our great fans around the world,” said Call of Duty General Manager and Executive Vice President Rob Kostich.
“We’re excited to begin the new competitive year live in Las Vegas. This is just the first step in what’s going to be a great season. We look forward to seeing everyone in Las Vegas.”
More information on CWL 2017 should be revealed in the next couple of weeks.
First Overwatch competition to feature Enhanced Viewing Experience
The event will also host a tournament for Overwatch, Blizzards’s extremely successful first-person shooter that recently surpassed 20 million players globally.
Over the weekend, eight top teams will fight for a piece of the $100,000 prize pool. Those that won’t be able to attend the event in person can watch the games unfold through MLG.tv.
This way, they can also make use of the proprietary EVE technology where they can dive deeper into the stats, players, and teams during the broadcast.
This will be the first Overwatch competition to have this new feature.
Celebrating digital culture with End Game
The “lifestyle event” End Game, as the organization calls it, will serve as a celebration of the esports culture.
It will feature “interactive experiences, surprise musical performances, and unique opportunities for content creators.”
Said Major League Gaming VP of Brands and Content Sundance DiGiovanni:
“End Game is going to be the biggest celebration of esports culture in MLG’s history. Video games are a dominant force in pop culture and have as much mindshare with this audience as music, art, or movies.
When we looked at other festivals, we saw a huge hole in their programming, and Vegas presented an opportunity for us to celebrate these content creators, esports pros, and digital influencers.
To put it simply, if you’re neglecting esports at your events, you are missing out on a huge passion point for a highly-engaged and creative audience.”
MLG Vegas will be held at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino on the weekend of Dec. 16. General admission is $50 and VIP passes cost $150.
Competing teams will have to buy a pass for $300.
Image credit: Wollertz / Shutterstock.com
Since: September 12, 2015
