Call of Duty developers Treyarch and Activision have announced further details of the upcoming World League season for Black Ops 4 set to begin in February 2019.
Primarily, the CWL season will only feature one stage with 16 teams split into two divisions and no relegation system. Instead of the CWL Playoffs, the season will culminate in the CWL Finals which will lead into the CWL Championship taking place in August 2019. Prize money throughout the season has increased to $6m compared to that of $4.2m last season.
An amateur division was also introduced which will have its own prize pool and LAN event alongside the CWL Finals leading to the CWL Championship.
Leading up to the beginning of the actual league, and open international event will be held in Las Vegas from December 7-9 with the top four teams immediately qualifying for the CWL. The remaining 28 teams will compete again in a qualifier LAN in January to decide the final 12 teams to fill the league.
One of the biggest reveals came during the announcement of the player format change. Competitive Black Ops 4 will now see a 5v5 player setting, as opposed to 4v4 that the game has hosted for the past 10 years.
Other notable announcements include removing region restriction rules, pro league game bonuses, and six spectator events throughout the season including the CWL Finals and CWL Championship.
Esports Insider says: Treyarch and Activision confirmed a lot of rumours with these announcements and brought a lot of unexpected changes leading into the newest season of the CWL. The increase to a $6m prize pool may sound outrageous but when you factor in every team having one extra player the prize money, in fact, hasn’t been increased that much. With Black Ops 4 as the latest and greatest Call of Duty title, we’ll be interested to see if these massive changes CoD’s esports structure will work out or not.