Europe’s competitive gaming scene has been developing over the past few years. It’s calendar is now busy with numerous events and tournaments. With the Olympics closing ceremonies taking place soon, many are searching for competition to watch. To this end we will now offer you a brief list of some of the biggest events on the European eSports calendar this year. No matter what your preferred gaming genre is, there’s sure to be a competition to enjoy:
- Dota 2 Stockholm Major
- Overwatch League 2022
- Optic Major Tournament
Each of these plays a significant part of the eSports ecosystem and we could not imagine competitive video gaming or eSports without them not happening. Some are coming after a long hiatus from live events, too!
Dota 2 Stockholm Major
The Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) had a bit of a rough period in 2021. After the 2020 version of ‘The International’ had to be postponed to 2021, the DPC has been trying to get back to its normal schedule. The International 10 was even moved from Stockholm, Sweden at the very last moment. Bucharest, Romania was able to step in and host the event.
In 2022 the Dota Pro Circuit is continuing to return to some semblance of normalcy. A new Major event has been announced to take place in Stockholm. The Stockholm Major will take place in May and once again feature some of the biggest names in the DPC. The event is set to have an impressive $500,000 prize pool. The competition for an entry will be fierce and we can expect Team Spirit to be top contenders again. As the 2021 winners of The International, they are favored to repeat.
The new DPC format is also undergoing some juggling. Hopefully this shuffle will make it easier for the competitive scene to thrive moving forward.
Overwatch League 2022
The Overwatch League is officially back! Come to think of it, it was never gone. Blizzard Entertainment has finally set the date for this year’s edition of the competition. The new season will come back on May 5 and it will be played on an early, but supposedly stable, build of Overwatch 2. Can we expect something great about the new season?
Most likely yes. The world is wearily moving away from pandemic restrictions and live attendance is once again possible to some extent. Overwatch is fully predicated on gamers interacting in real life and that is why the league itself is actually built-in in-person format. Teams around the world have their home arenas that usually can host anything from 1,000 to 5,000 live attendees.
This has allowed many video gamers to see eSports and even eSports betting for something completely different. France is also represented in the Overwatch League with Paris Eternal. The French capital’s home team is always expected to be in the thick of the competition. The entirety of Overwatch is built around fan interactions.
In fact, the man behind the OWL is Mike Sepso, who created Major League Gaming and was recruited by Blizzard to recreate this experience. The OWL is expected to run with a prize pool of $5 million.
Optic Major Tournament
Designed in a similar fashion to the Overwatch League, the Call of Duty League (CDL) encourages in-person attendance to most of its events. This has allowed it to build up an impressive viewership over the years. The viewership also directly contributes to the impressive financial results after only two years of operation.
The Optic Major Tournament is the first such event introduced to the Call of Duty League and it will bring together all of the CDL’s 12 competing teams. The event will be a sort of pit-stop event for the teams and run from March 3rd through March 6th.
Organized by Activision, the event will seek to allocate $500,000 in total prize money along with CDL points. The prize pool has not yet been confirmed but last year’s major run was $500,000 in prize purse. In the meantime, OpTic Gaming CEO Hector ‘H3CZ’ Rodriguez claims that it’s possible for Call of Duty to have a prize purse of $40 million.
A single slot in the league is reportedly worth anywhere between $40 and $60 million, which makes the entry barrier somewhat steep for novel organizations that may have the talent but struggle to muster the prize purse. Regardless, the Optic Major Tournament is one of the biggest and most anticipated fixtures on the Call of Duty calendar today.
