While the various 2019 eSports world championships wrap up this month or proceed towards their upcoming finals, major developers and publishers like Electronic Arts Inc. [stock_market_widget type="inline" template="generic" color="default" assets="EA" markup="(NASDAQ: {symbol} {currency_symbol}{price} ({change_pct}))" api="yf"] are already looking to 2020 global events.
Today EA announced the kick off for the nine-month long FIFA 20 Global Series on The Road to the FIFA eWorld Cup.
Millions of console players around the world will be able to participate in the new series, with more than $3 million in prizes up for grabs across all the upcoming events through mid 2020.
Registration for the Global Series runs from today through Oct. 31, and will open again for additional players from Jan. 16 – Jan. 31 next year.
When the Road to the eWorld Cup event begins, participants who earn enough points will vie for 128 available seats in the FIFA 20 playoffs, with that group eventually being whittled down to the top 16 players for both the Xbox and PS4 platforms.
Commenting on the open and inclusive nature of the new global series, FIFA Competitive Gaming Commissioner Brent Koning had this to say:
Those extra league partners for the 2020 version of the series include a host of international partners such as:
- Norwegian Elite Serien
- Saudi Professional League
- Australian A-League
- Maltese Premier League
- Ukrainian Premier League
FIFA 20 officially launched last month for Windows PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch platforms, and features a brand new mode unique to this entry in the series. The new VOLTA Football mode features 17 different locations around the globe and serves as a counterpoint to the game’s standard 11 vs. 11 matches.
In other major eSports events news, the Overwatch League 2019 Grand Finals just concluded at the end of September with a surprise upset win by The San Francisco Shock.
On the sports video game side, the NBA 2K20 Global Championship has now kicked off and will run through February.