Starting from December 16th, the Major League Gaming Championship will take place in Las Vegas. Despite taking place in different cities each year, the event never fails to attract a significant number of fans and players, making it one of the largest eSports events in the United States.

This year’s venue, Las Vegas, is a city that needs no introductions, especially for fans of professional boxing and wrestling. It just so happens that EVO (Evolution Championship Series), one of the most well-known tournaments for fighting game fans, also takes place annually in Vegas.

Inven will be on-site as official press at MLG Vegas. Let’s find out what events will be featured, and what to keep an eye out for.

Major League Gaming, one of the oldest names in the NA eSports scene

For eSports fans in Korea, MLG is often associated with Starcraft and League of Legends tournaments - notably in relation to the Korean dominance in Starcraft tournaments. However, for fans of various first-person shooters and fighting games, MLG is a name that they are bound to have heard at least once when MLG opened a tournament for the game that they follow. For North American eSports fans who cannot travel far, they can reasonably expect to see an MLG championship taking place in their own backyard some day.

MLG Championships have rarely had the same lineup of game tournaments each year, so eSports fans who are looking for something fresh will not be disappointed in MLG Championships. For example, first-person and third-person shooters with relatively smaller competitive scenes such as Gears of War and the Halo franchise have often been featured in MLG Championships, giving the fans of those series the rare chance to see the game that they love being played at the highest skill level.

However, with the recent purchase of Major League Gaming by Activision Blizzard in 2016, dramatic changes are expected to happen in MLG. As a publisher that has many popular competitive games under its belt, Activision Blizzard is expected to feature its own franchises - such as Overwatch, Heroes of the Storm and Call of Duty - more prominently in future MLG events with their substantial support and funding.

Two different colors of futuristic shooters, Overwatch and CoD:IW

As the first MLG Championship taking place after the acquisition of MLG by Activision Blizzard, MLG Vegas will host tournaments for two games - Overwatch and Call of Duty. For Call of Duty fans, it should be noted that this is the first major tournament that will take place using Infinite Warfare instead of Black Ops 3.

Starting this Friday, MLG Vegas will continue through the weekend, ending with finals for both games on Sunday. Fans may purchase tickets starting from $49.99, and watch the events unfold in person at the arena located in Mandalay Bay Resort.

The Overwatch Invitational will feature eight teams including Faze Clan, Cloud9, NRG, Rise Nation, FNATIC, Team EnvyUs, Team Liquid and Complexity. Among these teams, Team EnvyUs is at the center of attention with their recent victory in OGN Overwatch APEX Season 1, and fans are looking forward to see if EnvyUs can continue to dominate the Overwatch scene. The tournament will take place over the course of three days, using double elimination format with two groups. The total prize pool is $100,000, and the champion will take $40,000 home.

The Call of Duty World League will have 16 teams divided into four groups, with one team in each group being picked from the Open Bracket tournament. The total prize pool is also $100,000, with the champion taking $40,000. In addition, competitors will be able to earn CWL Pro Points that will determine the seed in future tournaments.

A glimpse into Activision Blizzard’s vision of eSports

Compared to the League of Legends World Championships or Blizzcon’s World Championships, Major League Gaming Championships are catered more towards North American gamers. However, eSports fans all over the world should be able to watch the budding eSports scene, featuring a new take on the FPS genre and an entry of an established FPS franchise with a twist. While Call of Duty does not have a huge following outside of North America, it is still one of the oldest franchises that has a competitive scene, and with the introduction of Infinite Warfare, fans of the series can expect to see some changes in the league.

For Overwatch, it will be interesting to see whether Team EnvyUs can follow up on their stellar performance in OGN APEX or if another team from the NA or EU regions will be able to take the throne from EnvyUs.

With the recent announcement from Blizzard Entertainment about the new plans for Overwatch as an eSport, along with Overwatch League, MLG Vegas will be an important moment in the history of competitive Overwatch. We are all looking forward to see Overwatch turn into a mainstay among eSports games, starting from MLG Vegas.