Game developer Garena has announced more details about the upcoming 2024 Free Fire competitive season.
The biggest addition for 2024 is the inclusion of a mid-season tournament that will see the top 18 teams from all competitive regions participate.
Free Fire is a popular mobile battle royale shooter that saw its peak popularity between 2020 and 2022. The Free Fire World Series 2021, for example, is the second most-watched esports event ever by peak viewership. However, Free Fire’s viewership has declined recently, with thr 2023 Free Fire World Series recording 570,000 peak viewers compared to the 5.4m viewers that watched the 2021 edition.
In December 2023, Garena announced that its Free Fire leagues in the Brazil, SEA, LATAM, and MEA (Middle East and Africa) regions will be rebranded to the Free Fire World Series. The move was made to make the Free Fire esports ecosystem standardised and easier to understand for fans across different markets.
The standout announcement today is that the regional leagues will be divided by a large-scale mid-season tournament. According to Garena, the tournament will feature the top competitors from FFWS SEA Spring, the first splits of FFWS Brazil and FFWS LATAM, and representatives from Pakistan and the MEA regions.
The tournament is set to take place in July and the winner will qualify directly for the FFWS Global Finals 2024.
The season-ending tournament, the Global Finals, will take place in November but no further details were shared by Garena. Garena also did not share further details about prize pools for the mid-season tournament or the Global Finals.
Last year, Free Fire joined the Snapdragon Pro Series’ highest tier of competition, Mobile Masters, for 2024. The tournament is set to feature a $400,000 (~£315,196) prize pool.
Notably, Free Fire returned to India last year after a year and a half of absence. Despite this, the country does not have a standalone league despite its popularity in the Free Fire market. The game was banned in India in 2022 alongside other apps, one of which included its competitor Battlegrounds Mobile: India. FreeFire returned to the country’s app stores in September 2023.
