Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. News

Call of Duty League holds its first online event this weekend

By

Activision Blizzard announced plans for the Call of Duty League to return on Friday, April 10, after getting derailed by the coronavirus, officially named COVID-19. The developer also detailed how the rest of the season will run without matches taking place in arenas locally.

As with previous events, matches will stream on Call of Duty League’s official YouTube channel. Envy Gaming’s Dallas Empire will host this weekend’s competition, which will span three days with a group stage on Friday. Saturday will see teams advance to the knockout stage of competitive play and the bracket will reach the semifinals. The tournament will conclude on Sunday, April 12, with championship matches as teams compete to become the inaugural Call of Duty League Champion.

Recommended Videos

“I spent many years at the NFL, and saw firsthand how sports can lift the human spirit,” league commissioner Johanna Faries said. “No one wants to be in this situation, but we are, and we’re thankful that Call of Duty League can forge ahead and deliver live competition to fans when it’s probably needed most.”

The Call of Duty League launched earlier this year and features 12 city-based teams. After a successful launch weekend, the league put on three events in London, Atlanta, and Los Angeles before temporarily suspending operations due to the pandemic. The Chicago Huntsmen will host the next online event on April 24-26, and Florida Mutineers (May 8-10) and the Seattle Surge (May 22-24) will host next. In June, the Minnesota Rokkr (June 5-7) and Paris Legion (June 19-21) will take over, and the regular season ends in July after events hosted by the New York Subliners (July 10-12), London Royal Ravens (July 17-19), and the Toronto Ultra (July 24-26).

So far this season, the Atlanta Faze and Chicago Huntsmen are tied with 90 points. The Dallas Empire (80) and Minnesota Rokkr (70) trail behind in the championship bracket, and wildcards Paris Legion (50), Florida Mutineers (50), London Royal Ravens (40), and OpTic Gaming Los Angeles (20) follow. Teams looking to improve into a wild card spot include the Seattle Surge (20), Toronto Ultra (10), Los Angeles Guerrillas (10), and New York Subliners (10).

Competitive Call of Duty play previously fell under the now-defunct Call of Duty World League. The former series was shut down after the 2019 season in favor of the current Call of Duty League, which looks to replicate Activision Blizzard’s success with Overwatch League.

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Tyler Treese
Tyler Treese
Former Digital Trends Contributor
When not playing or writing about games, Tyler Treese serves as the Senior Editor at Wrestlezone. An experienced writer that…
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6’s two beta periods are on the way
A squad stands together in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is one step closer to release. Activision announced on Monday that the upcoming shooter will be hitting early access and open beta soon.

Players who preordered the game will get access to the early access open beta, which will run from August 30-September 4. That'll be followed by the regular open beta, which is open to everyone, from September 6-9. That means early access participants will have an extra day to try out the game ahead of release on October 25.

Read more
XDefiant finds a perfect middle ground between Call of Duty and Overwatch
Key art for the GSK faction for XDefiant.

When I first installed and started to play XDefiant, I didn’t think I’d like it. It looked like a random mishmash of Ubisoft IP. I didn’t think it would pull off the gameplay mix between hardcore military shooters like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and hero shooters like Overwatch 2. Thankfully, XDefiant proved me very wrong, and I’ve had a hard time putting the game down since I started playing it ahead of Season 1.

The aspects of XDefiant that I thought would be weaknesses ended up being its strengths. It provides the power fantasy of a hero shooter while also delivering the engaging mission types and intricate gunplay of a military shooter. Gameplay customization doesn’t just happen on a hero or weapon level, but both at the same time. Although certain areas of XDefiant’s presentation could be much better, it’s a fun celebration of the Ubisoft franchises featured.

Read more
All Call of Duty games in order, by release date and chronologically
e3 2021 missing games call of duty

Call of Duty is one of the most successful video game franchises of all time. The original Call of Duty set a new standard for first-person shooters, the series' online multiplayer work has been a must-play for gamers for nearly two decades, and Warzone has been one of the top battle royale experiences of late.

The series has covered a lot of warfare, from World War II to futuristic fictional wars in 2187, but never in any set order. Players have been bounced around from era to era with each annual COD release and even revisited the same conflicts multiple times from different perspectives through direct sequels and remakes.

Read more