Electronic Arts have revealed a huge push towards the esports market with plans for major tournaments and big money prize pools, plus publisher support for community- and user-staged events.
Peter Moore, EA’s new chief competition officer, espoused the benefits and key points of the new Madden NFL Championships which are made up of four “EA Major” events that promise a combined US$1 million prize pool. There will also be an eight-player Madden NFL 16 tourney kick off today and run throughout E3, to be hosted by ESPN’s Stan Verrett.
The major events will have two lower levels of competition below, including low-level challenger events and the mid-tier premier class.
“We want to make stars of all our players,” enthused Moore, “with new competitive modes and weekly contests,” released within the games themselves.
EA Sports titles will not be alone in this new esports program, Battlefield 1 also made an appearance during Moore’s presentation.
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