Tournament organiser FACEIT has revealed its first set of collegiate esports offerings, slated to arrive as early as next month.
The collegiate event suite, headlined by a combined $55,000 (£42,259.52) prize pool, will produce competitions across Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, League of Legends, and VALORANT for participating teams in North America.
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The event programs will build on the organiser’s current momentum in the scholastic sector which consists of a newly-launched collegiate-dedicated branch led by former Collegiate StarLeague founder Duran Parsi. FACEIT Collegiate Division, as it’s known as, has since partnered with Rainbow Six Siege developer Ubisoft and the Unified Collegiate Esports Association to host varsity level competitions on the FACEIT platform.
Duran Parsi, Head of Collegiate Esports at FACEIT, commented on the tournament additions in a release: “The North American leagues are only the beginning, and we have many more plans involving schools and esports collegiate clubs around the world to help provide resources and a platform to support their own internal events to help grow gaming communities on campus. The collegiate scene is an important component for the whole competitive ecosystem and we are looking forward to starting these new programs within three of the most exciting esport circuits in North America.”
The CS:GO Premier League will swagger a $25,000 (£19,213.62) cash purse with an additional $5,000 allocated to its second division, CS:GO Contenders League. The fixture is said to offer “new opportunities to the North American community of 500,000 [Counter-Strike] players competing every month on FACEIT,” according to a release.
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Teams across the U.S. and Canada will compete in a regional system encompassing state-wide qualifiers and invitationals during the League of Legends Invitational Series. Winners will then advance into regional brackets each offering $5,000 (£3,842.73) in prizes and a chance to compete in the FACEIT Collegiate Finals for the lion’s share of a $10,000 (£7,685.45) purse.
The VALORANT Premiere League will offer a similar format to that of its Counter-Strike circuit, offering $10,000 (£7,685.45) in prize winnings and a lower division for “casual fans” of Riot Games’ new first-person shooter.
FACEIT is a staple in the competitive gaming community, linked to years of event production including the Esports Championship Series, FACEIT Pro League, and Quake Pro League. In recent times the organiser has deepened its relationship with a variety of game publishers such as Ubisoft, Microsoft, and Riot Games to host competitive circuits for Rainbow Six Siege, Halo, and League of Legends.
Esports Insider says: Scholastic esports is a particularly hot sector, and FACEIT has shown a clear interest in setting this area ablaze. With a proven competitive gaming platform and developer relationships to boot, the UK-based event organiser is shaping up to be a frontrunner in collegiate competition.