Stewart Volland / Call of Duty League
The London Royal Ravens and Paris Legion preparing to face-off at the Call of Duty League launch event.
- Activision Blizzard just launched the Call of Duty League with a weekend-long event at The Armory, a historic venue in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
- The Call of Duty League has 12 teams based in the United States, Canada, and Europe, reportedly valued at $25 million each. Each team will host a live event during the eight-month season, with the first in Minneapolis.
- The kickoff event was hosted by the league's Minnesota-based team, the Rokkr, and featured matches for all 12 teams and also included a $250,000 tournament for amateur players called Call of Duty Challengers.
- The crowd was a mix of "Call of Duty" fans and hardcore esports players.
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Activision Blizzard, the largest, most valuable games company in the Americas and Europe, just kicked-off the Call of Duty League, a professional gaming circuit for one of the world's most popular video games, and the video game publisher's latest venture in the growing esports industry.
Twelve franchise owners reportedly paid $25 million each to join the Call of Duty League, creating teams to represent major cities in the United States, Canada, or Europe. The league will visit all 12 host cities during an eight month season that began in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on January 24.
Business Insider attended the Call of Duty League's launch event, a three-day spectacle that would test whether Activision's massive esports investment could turn the millions of people who play "Call of Duty" every year into fans of esports and competitive play - or if that $300 million investment, and all that goes into launching a new esports league, would collapse under its own weight.
During the weekend thousands of fans packed into The Armory, a historic venue in downtown Minneapolis. For many of the attendees, this was their first esports event - the league intentionally chose to launch in the Midwest to prove how much of an impact the "Call of Duty" brand can have. Others esports leagues have typically chosen more popular tourist destinations for major events, but for three days in Minneapolis, the Call of Duty League felt like the biggest show in town.
The event was hosted by the Minnesota-based team, the Rokkr, which is co-owned by the media mogul Gary Vaynerchuk. All the teams competed in "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare," the latest entry in the best-selling video game franchise. "Call of Duty" has a long history in esports, but Activision's Call of Duty League provides a professional infrastructure for players who previously relied on sponsors and prize money to earn a living. Players in the new league are given a $50,000 minimum salary, housing during the eight-month season, and health benefits.
Along with a series of professional matches, the Minneapolis kick-off event included a $250,000 tournament for more than 500 amateur "Call of Duty" players. As a result, the crowd was a mix of "Call of Duty" fans and die-hard competitors looking to prove themselves.
Here's what it was like at the Call of Duty League's launch event hosted by the Minnesota Rokkr in Minneapolis:
