Bethesda and DreamHack have joined forces to bring further Quake Champions tournaments after the Quake World Championships.
The two additional tournaments in 2017 have been marked as the DreamHack Denver Quake Championship, between October 20th and 22nd before heading to DreamHack Winter between December 1st and 4th for the Quake Champions Invitational.
The Denver tournament will host a $75,000 (£58,000) prizez pool, with competitors facing off in Quake Champions’ Duel Mode as well as the four versus four team-based Sacrifice mode.
The Invitational will see the finest Quake players compete across Duel and Sacrifice for an impressive $350,000 (£272,000) prize.
Both of the aforementioned titles will have open qualifiers as well as a select list of invited professionals. The Bethesda release also states that: “Additional esports events for Quake Champions – the latest game in the franchise that helped found the esports scene 20 years ago – will be announced in the future”. This implies that they’re here to stay and it’s not just a short term burst back into the esports space.
Currently there’s the small matter of the Quake World Championships taking place over in Dallas. There’s $1,000,000 on the line as Quake re-announces itself in the esports world. It’s a blast from the past for many, with James “2GD” Harding playing for The Defendants and for those familiar with Dota 2 — seeing Paul “Redeye” Chaloner interviewing 2GD as a player, it’s a fun sight to see.
It comes just days after AMD was announced as the partner for the World Championships so there’s clear interest from the brand side. The rest of the World Championships will go a long way to seeing just how big the viewership is and if it the game will make a lasting mark on an already busy esports scene.
Esports Insider says: Quake’s great fun to watch and seeing the old guard emerge once more competition brings back a fuzzy nostalgic feeling. We’re rooting for James & co over in Dallas.
