Racing game Trackmania has undergone a significant shift to its esports strategy for 2024, opting for a more open community circuit instead of its previously team-focused league.
Another major change to its esports structure is that Ubisoft Nadeo, the developer of Trackmania, has enlisted esports platform Toornament to co-organise the circuit.
The 2024 Trackmania World Tour utilises a global points system, with community events in the circuit categorised based on size. Major tournaments can award up to 2000 points for the winner, whereas Grand and Challenger events will be less — 1000 and 500 points, respectively.
The season is set to conclude in fall 2024, with the top 32 ranked players competing for qualification to the Trackmania World Cup. The World Cup will see eight players face off for the season’s €18,000 (~£15,000) prize pool.
Revealed earlier this year, the circuit replaces last year’s Trackmania Grand League, a partner team competition that featured the likes of Team BDS and Karmine Corp (last year’s winner). The new circuit, however, has moved away from the partner team model, instead focusing on developing a grassroots community ecosystem for the game.
According to a Ubisoft Nadeo spokesperson, the new structure is based on empowering “the community of tournament organisers, without imposing any obligation on teams to join a partner programme”. Despite teaming up with Toornament for the Trackmania World Tour, the company still aims to be involved in co-organising the circuit and hosting cups.
As a result, Ubisoft Nadeo will host up to six monthly cups, the first of which occurred on April 28th. Due to its newly open ecosystem, the regular season provides opportunities for amateur and professional players to compete in the circuit. However, this opportunity also expands to tournament organisers, which can register to create community events that will be added to the Trackmania World Tour. The Trackmania regular season is set to conclude in September.
Olivier Paradis, CEO of Toornament, told Esports Insider: “We are very happy to contribute to the Trackmania World Tour this year, for Ubisoft Nadeo and the community. The 2024 edition offers a revamped format, allowing players as well as, for the first time, community tournament organisers, to take part and play an active role in shaping the storylines of the competition.
“For this, we have set up a dedicated competition platform taking full advantage of the Toornament technologies: white label design, tournament management software, tailor-made development connected to the game and data ownership. Overall, the partnership allows the creation of an inclusive space for esports, co-managed by the publisher and the community.”
