Gears of War Esports Pro Circuit Season 2 Announced
Teams from all over the world made their way to the City of Lights to battle it out over a $300,000 prize pool at the Gears Pro Circuit Las Vegas Open, which delivered a fitting end to an season of incredible stories.
Ghost Gaming looked like a potential contender for the crown after becoming the first team to take a map from Optic Gaming in Pool Play all season, but their second duel in the desert against a refreshed Optic Gaming and a determined Team EnVyUs ended their run in third place. The Finals ended with the top two teams in the world facing off – Optic Gaming and Team EnVyUs – with Optic Gaming coming out on top once again to take the crown with a convincing 2-0 win.
Season 1 has been a massive success for Gears of War Esports. Since we announced our first official esports program with a one million dollar starting prize pool, we’ve traveled to Columbus, London, Mexico City, Atlantic City, Paris and Las Vegas with teams competing from around the globe.
We are proud to have exceeded our expectations for Season One to become one of the fastest growing esports in eight months, with over 200,000 esports competitors, sold out events, millions of viewers and more than 1 Billion impressions throughout the circuit. To bring the personalities, esports action and drama home to viewers around the world, we’ve broadcast over 300 hours of content and over 350 custom Gears of War Esports video features.
Fans have also embraced competitive Gears of War more than ever before. Since the start of Season 1, Escalation, the definitive esports mode for Gears of War Esports, has continually increased in popularity to become the third most played game mode in Gears of War 4. And, thanks to fan funding through Esports Supporter Gear Packs, we’ve given away $1.25 million dollars in prize money during Season 1. An esport can only be successful by building a community of passionate viewers, competitive players and continual competition, and these results reflect the foundation of the first 8 months of Gears Esports as we look toward the future.
Today, we are excited to announce that Gears of War will continue its commitment to esports with the Gears of War Esports Pro Circuit Season 2, with a $1,000,000 prize pool up for grabs! We’re building on the international accessibility we began in Season 1 with large open global LAN events, now with the addition of funding for regional tournaments and grassroots support. We’re also increasing our travel coverage for teams to support the amazing team organizations that have made an investment in Gears of War.
There’s much more to come from Gears of War Esports so stay tuned for more information in the coming months as we build up to the launch of Season 2 in late summer/early fall.