 13th January 2009 (London, UK) – The United Kingdom eSports Association (UKeSA), the official governing body for competitive gaming in the UK, today announced a £35,000 prize fund for the new eSports leagues: The Premiership, The Championship and The Cup tournaments. The first ever UKeSA national season starts in February 2009 with the announcement of the free to enter Open Divisions
Competitions will be played on PC, Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii platforms. New games released which have an online competitive element will feature immediately in the free play Open Divisions, popularity will define which games make it to the all important Championship levels and ultimately professional Premiership levels where teams will get the chance to compete for prize funds, and even earn seasonal retainers. The game titles kicking off the historic first Open season are now confirmed as:
PC:
- Counter Strike: Source (Valve Corporation)
- Day of Defeat: Source (Valve Corporation)
- Counter Strike: Condition Zero (Valve Corporation)
- Counter Strike 1.6 (Valve Corporation)
- Team Fortress 2 (Valve Corporation)
- Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (Blizzard Entertainment)
- Call of Duty IV: Modern Warfare (Activision)
- Company of Heroes (THQ)
- Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II (THQ)
- FIFA 09 (Electronic Arts)
- World of Warcraft: TBC (Blizzard Entertainment)
Nintendo Wii:
- Super Smash Brothers Brawl (Nintendo)
- Mario Cart Wii (Nintendo)
Microsoft XBOX 360:
- Halo 3 (Bungie)
- Call of Duty IV: Modern Warfare (Activision)
- Gears of War 2 (Microsoft Games Studios)
- FIFA 09 (Electronic Arts)
- Guitar Hero 3 (Activision)
- Forza Motorsport 2 (Microsoft Games Studios)
Sony PlayStation:
- FIFA 09 (Electronic Arts)
- Rainbow 6: Vegas 2 (Ubisoft)
- Call of Duty IV: Modern Warfare (Activision)
- Pro Evo Soccer 9 (Konami)
Quote:
Ray Mia, Chief Executive of UKeSA:
UKeSA aims to make eSports accessible to everyone. We are looking very closely at how we can build a sustainable model. Anyone who has competed in an eSports league or tournament will tell you, once you’ve played videogames competitively there’s no looking back. This roster of Season One games for the Open Division mixes online favourites with the latest chart successes. In short, there’s something for everyone, pick up and play for fun in our Open Divisions, or get motivated and become a professional eSports Star at Championship or Premiership level, or maybe perform a giant killing act in our knock out Cup competitions. We’ll be launching new titles in the Open Division over the coming weeks and months, ultimately it will be the gamers who decide what titles we run with, but its simple, we’re giving gamers the option to decide what level they want to play at.
Season One for the 2009 UKeSA Premiership, Championship and Open Divisions is due to start in February and will be featured online (IPTV/VOD) and in print, the professional levels will also have significant coverage on television, with the events culminating at a Gaming Exhibition in London in April 2009.
About UKeSA:
The United Kingdom eSports Association (UKeSA) provides an independent framework for Government, Industry and Community eSports interaction within the UK. UKeSA also provides access to and acts as a conduit for regional and international eSports organisations and subsidiary frameworks (pan European eSports Associations and the International eSports Federation IeSF). UKeSA seeks to adhere to a set of globally recognised founding principles of traditional sports by blending eSports with culture, education, and respect for the fundamental ethical principles of professional sporting competitions.
More information about UKeSA can be found at here or by emailing Mail.
*Updated now with the following*
• Warcraft III: Frozen Throne (replaces Reign of Chaos)
• World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (replaces World of Warcraft) TBC
• Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War II removed until release
• Halo 3 (Bungie) has been added
Source: Dignitas
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