EnvyUs is the best team in the world in Call of Duty: Black Ops III.
After four days of competition at The Forum arena in Inglewood, California, EnvyUs won the annual Call of Duty Championship at Activision’s fan event for the franchise. They defeated Splyce 3-1 in a best-of-five series, capping off their victory with a dominant performance in capture the flag. The victory nets EnvyUs a trophy and $800,000, the lion’s share of the total $2 million prize that was up for grabs over Labor Day weekend.
[aditude-amp id="flyingcarpet" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":2045951,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"esports,games,pc-gaming,","session":"A"}']For the first time in the first-person shooter’s esports history, the grand finals featured both a U.S. team (EnvyUs) and a European team (Splyce). North American squads usually dominate the top four spots in the tournament. But that all changed on September 3, when a strong push from multiple European organizations knocked out well-known U.S. favorites, including Optic Gaming, Faze Clan, Cloud 9, and Rise Nation. Team Elevate was the last to go when they lost to Splyce in the losers bracket final.
No one will leave empty handed, however. All 32 teams will at least get $15,000 for participating. You can find the full prize breakdown below.
- 1st place: $800,000
- 2nd place: $250,000
- 3rd place: $150,000
- 4th place: $120,000
- 5th through 8th: $50,000
- 9th through 16th: $30,000
- 17th through 32nd: $15,000
The Call of Duty Championship marks the end of the first year of the Call of Duty World League, which publisher Activision created last year to capitalize on the growing esports market. According to research firm Newzoo, esports-related revenues will bring in $493 million in 2016.