Call of Duty unveils the next season of the Call of Duty World League

With the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 right around the corner, many are curious to see how the Call of Duty competitive scene will be changing this season. Yesterday, the Call of Duty World League held a live stream on Twitch to provide an in-depth look at the changes coming this year. 

The biggest change coming this year is actually pretty significant. Team sizes in both casual and competitive play will shift to five players. Previously, standard team size in the core casual game modes was six players, whereas, in competitive play and tournaments, the standard was four players. It may not seem like much, but this is a big departure from the norm for Call of Duty. This will bring casual and competitive team sizes in line with each other, and at the highest level, organizations will be scrambling to find players to fill that new starter slot.

On the stream, Treyarch also confirmed this will be the biggest CWL season to date, with the largest prize pool in Call of Duty history: $6 million. 

For those wondering when they can expect the first competitive Call of Duty LAN of the season, the first one is being held in Las Vegas from December 7th - 9th. After that, the CWL Pro League will kick off in February of 2019, and teams will battle through the stages to the CWL Championship in August 2019.

So far, I haven't seen any news surrounding the competitive scene for Blackout, but it stands to reason Treyarch and Activision may be holding off until they see the true potential of the game mode post-launch.

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — September 19, 2018 — Today, the Call of Duty® World League, Presented by PlayStation®4, unveiled plans for an all-new season of the CWL, which will feature the highly-anticipated Call of Duty®: Black Ops 4. The upcoming season will usher in a new level of competition featuring five vs. five team play, single season CWL Pro League format, a dedicated amateur circuit featuring its own prizing and the largest overall purse in league history of $6 million. The action will kick-off following Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’s release on October 12, with the first high-profile LAN competition scheduled to take place Dec. 7 – 9th in Las Vegas.

“With Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, the Call of Duty World League is poised to have its most exciting and biggest season yet. Beginning in Las Vegas and continuing throughout 2019, CWL fans can expect the best players from around the world to battle even harder to be crowned Call of Duty World League Champion,” said Executive Vice President and General Manager of Call of Duty, Rob Kostich. “This season brings a ton of new storylines, including the move to five vs. five in CWL. We’re excited for this opportunity and we’re supporting it with the largest prizing in our history of $6 million. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is tailor-made for intense competition at all levels – pro and amateur – and with this move we’re ensuring that the game you play, is the game you see this season with the CWL.”

Today’s news was shared in a CWL special broadcast from Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 developer Treyarch’s livestream studio. Hosted by Clint “Maven” Evans and Joe “Merk” DeLuca, the broadcast went into great detail about the upcoming season, updates to the pro schedule, all-new amateur opportunities as well as an in-depth interview with Treyarch to discuss five vs. five gameplay coming to the CWL when Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 launches this October.

CWL Pro League competition will take place in a single season across twelve weeks beginning in February 2019. For the first time, cross-divisional matches will unfold as new rivalries form. The CWL 2019 season once again culminates in the grand finale, CWL Championship in August 2019, where the best of the best will vie for the lion’s share of the prizing and the ultimate title of Call of Duty World League Champion.

While for amateur players, the opportunity to compete expands greatly through their own dedicated amateur circuit coming to CWL LAN events in 2019. Based on the results from these competitions, an amateur playoff race will emerge.

The CWL released additional plans, including updates to the CWL National Qualifiers, a region-based online tournament available to teams in Australia and New Zealand, Canada, France and Belgium, Italy, Germany and Netherlands, Spain and Portugal, UK and Ireland, and US. For a full list of all of the new 2019 CWL Season details featuring Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, visit CallofDuty.com/CWL.
Follow the Call of Duty World League on Twitter and Instagram for the latest CWL updates. For live broadcasts and Video on Demand, visit MLG.com/CallofDuty.

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Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Activision Publishing, Inc. is a leading global producer and publisher of interactive entertainment. Activision maintains operations throughout the world and is a division of Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI), an S&P 500 company. More information about Activision and its products can be found on the company's website, www.activision.com or by following @Activision.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements: Information in this press release that involves Activision Publishing’s expectations, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future, including statements about the expected dates, features and events of the Call of Duty World League, including CWL Las Vegas, CWL Pro League, CWL National Qualifiers, and Call of Duty World League Championship, as well as the release dates for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, are forward-looking statements, that are not facts and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause Activision Publishing’s actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements set forth in this release include unanticipated product delays and other factors identified in the risk factors sections of Activision Blizzard’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K and any subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. The forward-looking statements in this release are based upon information available to Activision Publishing and Activision Blizzard as of the date of this release, and neither Activision Publishing nor Activision Blizzard assumes any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements believed to be true when made may ultimately prove to be incorrect. These statements are not guarantees of the future performance of Activision Publishing or Activision Blizzard and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond its control and may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations.