In spite of the efforts of the WESA, the global eSports governing body formed in 2016, eSports didn’t become an Olympic discipline – this time. The International Olympic Committee has spent the last years looking for ways in which it could become more relevant for younger audiences but eSports just didn’t pass the mark. Instead, the Olympic roster will be completed this year by sports like wall climbing (or better said, its competitive cousin “sports climbing”), skateboarding, and surfing. But fear not – the year will not be without major eSports events. And one of them is associated with the Summer Olympics held in Tokyo.
Intel World Open
The Intel World Open will take place in Tokyo ahead of the 2020 Summer Olympics. Gamers from all over the world will gather to measure their strength in “Street Fighter V” and “Rocket League”, with the support of the International Olympic Committee. The chipmaker behind the competition will build on its experience gathered at its previous event coupled with an Olympics edition: the Intel® Extreme Masters PyeongChang event.
The pre-qualifiers for the event will begin early this year. We’ll hopefully see teams from Canada’s emerging eSports scene progress to the live qualifiers held in Katowice, Poland, in June, only to advance to the finals in Tokyo.
Fortnite World Cup
Last year’s Fortnite World Cup was one of the biggest in history when it comes to its prize pool ($100 million) and live followers (2.3 million). There is not much information available about the 2020 event (not even an official confirmation of its existence) except for some leaks that seem to indicate that Epic Games is preparing a new game mode as an exclusive for the event: the addition of “Trios” to the traditional “Solo” and “Duos” game modes.
League of Legends World Championship
The League of Legends World Championship finals will take place in Shanghai, China this year. Last year’s finals were hosted by the Accor Hotels Arena in Paris – the November 10 event was broadcasted in 16 languages across more than 20 platforms, and it attracted numerous live viewers as well. The venue hosting the 2020 event will take place at the Shanghai Stadium, with a capacity of more than 55,000.
FIFA eWorld Cup
Association football is perhaps the most popular sport ever – and the FIFA eWorld Cup is perhaps the biggest soccer simulation event in the world. The first FIFA eWorld Cup (called FIFA Interactive World Cup at the time) was held in 2004. Last year, at the tournament’s 15th anniversary, Mohammed Harkous (MoAuba) beat last year’s champion Mosaad Aldossary (Msdossary) at the finals held last August in London and pocketed a prize worth $250,000. This year’s Finals will be held in July.
The International 2020
“The International” is special for raising money – the players buy the “Compendium”, contributing to the prize pool of the tournament with 25% of the money they spend. The amount raised this way is growing each year – last year, the event’s prize pool was $34 million.
The event traditionally takes place in August. For the first time since 2011, the event will be held at a European venue: the almost 14,000-seat Ericsson Arena in Stockholm, Sweden.
