i3 - January/February 2020 - 40

"We have a great advantage with having Overwatch League
within our Activision Blizzard Esports family and have learned
a great deal from their experiences," said Johanna Faries, Call of
Duty League commissioner. "In addition, we are bringing in
entirely fresh elements that are specific to the global entertainment juggernaut that is Call of Duty."
Activision has been growing its global Call of Duty (COD)
footprint with CWL over the past few years. The game maker
has worked with consumer technology companies like Astro
Gaming, Asus, Mountain Dew Amp, Scuf Gaming, Sony, TCL
and T-Mobile as sponsors for the league.
Faries said the possibilities for consumer electronic companies
to get involved in what Activision Blizzard Esports is building
are truly endless.
"We are a technology-driven experience, and our players and
fans are digital natives who expect and deserve innovation
across the board. Call of Duty League exists to 'deliver the unexpected,' and that brand purpose includes delivering best-inclass technology and innovation experiences as often as
possible," added Faries.
This year's CWL Finals took place at the UCLA Pauley Pavilion
in Los Angeles. The nine-hour broadcast was watched for
716,000 hours on Twitch with a peak of 117,453 viewers. The
championship awarded $6 million in prize money and saw
eUnited defeat 100 Thieves in the Grand Finals.
The one element that separates COD from other esports titles
like Overwatch, League of Legends, Counter-Strike: Global
Offensive and Dota 2 is that the game completely changes every
year. While other esports will update and tweak the existing
game clients, COD competitors play the latest annual version of
the game, even when it's brand new. The new league will be playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, launched on October 25, 2019.

In addition to pro play, the league will
continue to foster the growth and development of emerging player talent with
Call of Duty Challengers, its amateur
path-to-pro competition system. Call of
Duty Challengers, which began in
November 2019, runs through 2020. It
includes online ladders, online tournaments and open tournament event competitions with a dedicated prize pool of
over $1 million. Several Call of Duty
League pro teams will also support amateur player pipeline development by hosting Call of Duty Challengers competitions
in their markets.
Fans can also compete on behalf of
their cities in a new, casual competition
system called the Call of Duty League
City Circuit. In the City Circuit, fans compete on behalf of their favorite pro team
cities through online or LAN (local area
network) tournaments held exclusively by
the 12 Call of Duty League teams. This
fan-focused competitive circuit features a
two-on-two format in the Call of Duty:
Modern Warfare mode "Gunfight." Call of
Duty League City Circuit carries its own
prize pool and will culminate in a finals
event at the Call of Duty League
Championship Weekend.
"After returning from the first owners'
meetings I was blown away by the plans

ESPORTS BY THE NUMBERS
A major milestone was crossed in
2019 when for the first time, the
global esports market exceeded
the billion-dollar revenue mark.
The $1.1 billion in revenues accounted for a year-on-year growth
of 26.7%. Around 82% of the total
market ($897.2 million), came from
endemic and non-endemic brand
investments like media rights,
advertising and sponsorship.
The highest-grossing individual
esports revenue stream worldwide was sponsorship, generating
$456.7 million last year. The fastest
growing esports revenue stream
by far is media rights, advertising
and sponsorships, according to
research from Newzoo.
40

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

"Esports' impressive audience and viewership growth
is a direct result of an engaging viewership experience
untethered to traditional
media," said Newzoo CEO Peter
Warman. "Plenty of leagues
and tournaments now have
huge audiences, so companies
are positioning themselves to
directly monetize these esports
enthusiasts. While this began
happening in 2018, the market
is constantly expanding on
its early learnings. The result:
2019 was the first billion-dollar
year for esports, a market that
will continue to attract brands
across all industries."

$1.1 B
in revenue for 2019

50%
growth in viewership
between Q3 2018 and
Q3 2019

According to Simon Kemp,
CEO of Kepios and chief analyst
at DataReportal, nearly one billion people globally are watching
video game tournaments today.
That's twice the size of the global
audience for Formula 1 racing,
eight times larger than the TV
audience for MLB's World Series
and 10 times bigger than the
audience for Super Bowl LIII.
That viewership grew by nearly 50% between Q3 2018 and
Q3 2019, with 22% of all internet
users saying they had watched
an esports tournament in recent
months. Viewership grew by
60% in the younger 16-24-yearold demographic.
I T I S I N N O VAT I O N

i3 - January/February 2020

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