Call of Duty Tips & Match Previews
Call of Duty is one of the most popular first-person-shooters in the gaming world. With multiple iterations of the game drawing in huge audiences, it was not a real surprise when the Call of Duty eSports scene became a reality.
The game is played around the world and boasts tournaments across the planet. With people playing in their free time or as part of a competition, Call of Duty is as popular as it has ever been.
Call of Duty Live Streaming
You can watch the official live stream of major Call of Duty competitions through the official Call of Duty channel on Twitch or the live stream on the Call of Duty website. You can also often see see the major events with bookmakers bet365 and Picklebet.
In 2022, the CDL (Call of Duty League) drew in over three million hours watched and peaked with a massive 275,244 viewers during the Grand Final between Atlanta Faze and Los Angeles Thieves. The opening weekend of the 2023 championship saw huge interest, with the highest viewership peaking at over 190,000 as Optic Texas took on the Florida Mutineers.
Call of Duty eSports Structure
The biggest COD eSports event is the Call of Duty League, which is sponsored by Activision and was announced in 2019.
12 teams contest across nine months of the year. Activision has also started to organise the Call of Duty Challengers League, which is contested by academy players and junior teams of different eSports organisations. The structure of the Challengers League is as follows:
- Three Opens (Minnesota Open, Toronto Open and the Boston Open) offer a $75,000 prize pool.
- Elite Majors are split into four stages that are conducted across North America and Europe, with a $50,000 prize pool on offer.
- Regional Cups are played out across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America.
Right now, the Call of Duty League is split into a pre-season, regular season and post-season. They are laid out as such over the course of the year:
- The pre-season, Resurgence, features 32 teams that includes 12 partner teams from the regular season, 16 teams from qualifiers and four invited teams. There is a total prize pool of $100,000 on offer, with $30,000 available to the winners.
- The regular season is split into five sections or Stages, and lasts for around seven months. Each Stage starts with qualifiers and ends in a Major, with a prize pool of $500,000.
- The post-season, also known as the CDL Championship, is held at the culmination of the regular season and determines the league's winner.
Best Call of Duty Teams
Atlanta Faze are seen as the best Call of Duty team in the world. In the three seasons of the CDL since 2020, they have won the 2021 edition and came in as runners-up in 2020 and 2022, with elimination in the Elimination Final coming in 2023.
Dallas Empire triumphed in the first edition of the tournament in 2020, and Los Angeles Thieves were victorious in 2022. New York Subliners are the current champions after hammering Toronto Ultra 5-0 in the best of nine Grand Final in 2023.
Below is the list of all the Major winners since the format was introduced in 2021:
- Stage 5 Major 2021, Minnesota RØKKR
- Stage 4 Major 2021, Atlanta FaZe
- Stage 3 Major 2021, Atlanta FaZe
- Stage 2 Major 2021, Toronto Ultra
- Stage 1 Major 2021, Atlanta FaZe
- Stage 4 Major 2022, Los Angeles Thieves
- Stage 3 Major 2022, Seattle Surge
- Stage 2 Major 2022, Los Angeles Guerrillas
- Stage 1 Major 2022, OpTic Texas
- Stage 5 Major 2023 New York Subliners
- Stage 4 Major 2023 Los Angeles Thieves
- Stage 3 Major 2023 Toronto Ultra
- Stage 2 Major 2023 Atlanta Faze
- Stage 1 Major 2023 New York Subliners
Prior to 2021, the Call Of Duty World Championship was run by Major League Gaming (MLG). Below are the teams that won it:
- Call of Duty World League Championship 2019, EUnited
- CWL Championship 2018, Evil Geniuses
- CWL Championship 2017, Optic Gaming
- CWL Championship 2016, Team Envy
- Call of Duty Championship 2015, Denial Esports
- Call of Duty Championship 2014, Complexity Gaming
- Call of Duty Championship 2013, Fariko Impact
