Clash Royale introduces open league, $1 million finals pool

Clash Royale developer Supercell has announced an open league, The Crown Championship, taking place throughout 2017. There will be several competitive seasons, starting with a spring season in May, to determine the top players. Each season leads up to a World Championship at year’s end with a $1 million prize pool.

The Championship is “an epic quest to find the best Clash Royale player in the world,” said Supercell in a press release. “In the most accessible esports competition ever, no pro gaming experience is required and all players are welcome to compete.”

The league will have four phases, run through a special in-game feature specifically designed for the tournament. It begins with open play, in which players will be ranked for later stages, running May 11-16. They emphasised that any player above the in-game level 8 may join.  

The top players move on to one of eight tournaments of 1024 players in late May, and the winners of these move on to a group stage running throughout June. Two players will be eliminated via round robin rankings, and the other six participate in a final bracket from June 30th through July 2nd.

It may be the largest and most accessible esports tournament to date, with up to eight thousand players allowed to qualify after the open stages. 

The website for the tournament states that for the spring season, only teams in North America, Latin America and Europe may join. It’s unknown if this will change in later seasons. 

Esports Insider says: We’re genuinely excited to see such a large outreach by a video game to bridge together casual and competitive play. This is a fun and exciting opportunity for mobile gamers across the globe to get in on some action!