Currently, the competitive CoD landscape is going through a flurry of roster discussions and rumours. Accordingly, apart from that, there seems to be a leaked CDL 2023 schedule – let’s take a look at it below!
CDL 2023 Schedule – A Very Early Look
I have obtained leaked internal documents that appear to reveal the full CDL 2023 season schedule.
— Major 1 Pro-Am: December 15-18 — Major 2: February 2-5 — Major 3: March 9-12 — Major 4: April 20-23 — Major 5: May 25-28 — CDL Champs: June 15-18 pic.twitter.com/Ug8wLDnWOm
Overall, multiple sources have quoted a leak from Dexerto where the full season for 2023 was revealed. Prior to this release, it was already made clear that this upcoming season would start ahead of schedule, before the calendar year.
Moreover, the released dates align with this idea – take a look at them below:
Pro-Am: December 15-18th
2nd Major: February 2-5th
3rd Major: March 9-12th
4th Major: April 20-23rd
5th Major: May 25-28th
CDL Champs: June 15-18th
Finally, it seems that Activision Blizzard is returning to a 5 Major format similar to the 2021 Cold War season.
Credits: CDL
Otherwise, the Pro-Am is returning, where amateur teams have the opportunity to compete with the franchised competition.
Naturally however, this is a leak and things can and will likely change with regards to the particular dates.
We’ll be awaiting Activision’s formal announcement near the release date of Modern Warfare 2 in October.
For those unaware, the difference between Tactical and Arcade shooter titles is clear. Accordingly, after comparing tactical shooter esports, we’re ready to dive into arcade shooter esports 2022 in this featured article!
A Growing Competition for 20 Years
Credits: CDL
Overall, the difference between tactical and arcade shooter esports originates from the platforms the titles were based on. Bearing this in mind, the likes of Call of Duty and Halo were born for console gaming with a controller based input.
Since the earliest days of Playstation and Xbox, Call of Duty and Halo have been by far the most popular titles around.
Accordingly, the first Call of Duty was released in 2003, while the first Halo title released in 2001. Indeed, arcade titles typically release a new installment in the series yearly or every few years.
Credits: 343 Industries
Furthermore, nowadays the esports adapt to the new titles as a refresh to the competition. Currently, Halo esports are enjoying Halo Infinite while CoD will be competing over the upcoming Modern Warfare II title.
Regardless, there are a number of common features for each of the titles – here are some core elements of an arcade shooter:
Gameplay – first-person visceral action with hip-fire and sights across a selection of weapons. Also features abilities, tactical and lethal grenades together with team-based game modes.
Multiplayer Game Modes – unlike tactical shooters which only have bomb defusal, arcade shooters celebrate multiple game modes with objectives such as points, flags, frags, bomb defusal and anything the developers can come up with. In most game modes, players have either multiple or unlimited lives at times.
Also features non-multiplayer modes such as Campaigns and Zombies.
Teams consist of 4 players typically with some exceptions depending on the title
Credits; CDL
Considering the fact that the franchises frequently feature new titles, differences between the series change every year. Accordingly, we won’t be listing the exact differences for this reason as they tend to be similar – for context, professional Halo and CoD players have succesfully switched esport in the past.
Arcade Shooter Esports 2022 – One Franchised, One Not
With regards to esports, there are stark differences between Halo and CoD.
Starting with Halo, the esport had been quiet for a few years since Halo 5 Guardians in 2015. Bearing this in mind, the recent release of Halo Infinite has revived the community incredibly.
Credits: HCS
Considering this, the esport is celebrating an open format with multiple international leagues under the Halo Championship Series. Specifically, this includes regions such as North America, Mexico, Europe and Oceania.
The end of the season is celebrated with the Halo World Championship 2022 with $1,000,000 on the line.
Meanwhile, over at Call of Duty, the esport has been continually growing since the CoD World League in the early 2010s. Since then, four years ago, the franchised Call of Duty League was born.
Featuring 12 teams, the competition enjoys multiple majors every year as teams earn points to seed for CoD Championship 2022. Here, this past week, $2,250,000 were on the line for the 12 teams.
Call of Duty League 2020 Season 2020-02-09 / Photo: Robert Paul for Activision Blizzard
In addition, apart from the franchised competition, there’s also the CDL Challengers for amateur talent.
As a franchised league, CoD competitors enjoy salaries and job security which makes for an interesting rostermania which is currently going on.
Esports Viewership – Clear Statistics
In conclusion, let’s talk about popularity by looking at viewership. Bearing this in mind, here are the top 3 all-time viewership numbers for events for CoD and Halo below:
CoD:
Call of Duty League 2020 Finals – Peak Viewers 331,558
CDL World League Championship 2018 – Peak Viewers 324,086
CDL 2022 Playoffs – Peak Viewers 275,244
Credits: Halo
Halo Infinite:
HCS Kickoff Major Raleigh 2021 – Peak Viewers 267,279
Anaheim 2022 – Peak Viewers 114,194
HCS Major Kansas City 2022 – Peak Viewers 104,234
Arcade Shooter Esports 2022 – Which is Better?
While it hasn’t been so clear in the past, the better esport is rather obvious.
Being more popular, with more prize pool and more viewership, CoD esports is certainly a tier above Halo Infinite. However, Halo Infinite is definitely very young and could catch up in coming years.
This past season has been rather bittersweet for the OpTic Texas CDL Roster. Accordingly, this past week of rostermania saw many doubts over the roster sticking together. However, we just received confirmation they’ll be sticking together.
Formed last year, this roster was built to contend with the very best. However, due to the injury from Indervir “iLLeY” Dhaliwal, the season was very difficult.
Accordingly, following an incredible first major, the team failed to find consistency. Considering this, they’re giving it another chance with the roster below:
Brandon “Dashy” Otell
Seth “Scump” Abner
Anthony “Shotzzy” Cuevas-Castro
Indervir “iLLeY” Dhaliwal
Always been family since the day you joined OpTic.
Notably however, the roster has released substitue spot players. Accordingly, the likes of Byron “Prolute” Vera and Jordon “General” General have been let go.
Indeed, with an open substitue spot following a difficult season due to an injury, perhaps they’ll invest more in this back-up position.
Overall, the roster looks to improve over this past season and find more consistency:
Indeed, after four years of competition, the Paris Legion franchise continues to fail. Accordingly, the Paris Legion CDL Roster is looking to rebuild once again heading into the upcoming season – read on as we discuss the changes!
One thing we’ll point out is that Paris Legion is being renamed to Vegas Legion for the upcoming season. Regardless, the players and staff are remaining the same.
However, the following players have been let go of, as listed below:
Bryan “Jimbo” Sabman
Giancarlos “oJohnny” Carrasco
Thomas “GRVTY” Malin
Johnathan “John” Perez – Substitute
Naturally, this is no surprise. Furthermore, they’re holding on to their best player in the form of Donovan “Temp” Laroda.
Heading into the offseason there isn’t much hope considering that the franchise is known for forming rosters last. However, with Seattle Surge and LAG winning majors this past year, there is the belief that any team of four can win.
First, they’ll have to improve over a very poor record:
Once a year, at the end of the season, the Call of Duty season ends with an epic event. Accordingly, apart from a prestigious event to crown the yearly champions, the event is also an opportunity to show off the next title – read on as we discuss the Call of Duty 2023 reveal!
Call of Duty 2023 – Guaranteed for Two Years
Earlier this year, Activision Blizzard revealed some gameplay for the upcoming title. Specifically, we’re referring to Call of Duty Modern Warfare II. Following up on the success of 2019 Modern Warfare, this title looks to be huge.
Furthermore, we’ll be enjoying more details of the most important part of the title, the multiplayer, this weekend:
Aiming for a reveal right before the Championship Sunday Grand Final, the viewership looks to be insane.
For those unaware, there’s a lot riding on this upcoming title. Considering the fact that this title will be the first time in a while that the series sticks with one game for two years, the community feedback needs to be positive.
We’ll be staying up to date to see how this upcoming title shakes up competitive and casual CoD!
Accordingly, this weekend we’re heading into the final event for the 2021-22 Call of Duty season. Specifically, CDL Champs has everyone excited with everything kicking off on August 4th. Read on as we preview the competition in this CDL Championship 2022 preview!
CDL Championship 2022 Preview – 7 Contenders?
𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗧 𝗖𝗢𝗔𝗦𝗧: Terrors from A-Town clash with the Kings of the Concrete Jungle.
Who comes out with this dub? Predict the score between @ATLFaZe versus @Subliners
Perhaps, this is one of the most disputed Champs events in the history of Call of Duty.
With a prize pool of $2,550,000 on the line, only the top 8 franchised teams from the regular season have made it this far.
Find them all listed below in three groups of ranks:
Favourites – Atlanta FaZe, Los Angeles Thieves
Contenders – New York Subliners, OpTic Texas, Toronto Ultra
Underdogs – London Royal Ravens, Boston Breach, Seattle Surge
Naturally, these are based on recent performances. With regards to favourites, FaZe look to take home the tournament as they did last year, while LA Thieves minced the competition at the Stage IV Major.
Meanwhile, the contenders feature some incredible teams who could all win it given the right opportunity – especially Ultra and New York.
Finally, the likes of Royal Ravens and Boston Breach have looked quite week in offline competition compared to others. Although Seattle Surge won an event this year, Stage IV was poor from them.
There’s nothing better in esports than an incredible, history defining, post-season event to end the season. Accordingly, in the case of Call of Duty esports, there’s one event which stands above all others. Specifically, the CDL Championship Weekend 2022 is almost here – read on to learn how to watch this exciting event below!
Designed to be the climax of the competitive season, CDL Championship Weekend comes after an entire season of competition.
Accordingly, the 12 franchised organizations have competed in a total of 2 friendly majors and four Stages and Majors of pure competition. At the Stages Qualifiers and Majors, teams have earned precious points in order to earn a spot at the most prestigious event of the year.
Organized by Activision and hosted in Los Angeles Galen Center, only the top 8 teams from the regular season standings have been invited to compete.
With regards to the format, it’s rather straight forward. Overall, teams have been seeded against one another in the Upper Bracket Quarterfinals depending on their placement points. For example, seed #1 will play against seed #8 and so on.
Bearing this in mind, here are your opening matches:
Atlanta FaZe vs New York Subliners
London Royal Ravens vs Seattle Surge
OpTic Texas vs Toronto Ultra
Los Angeles Thieves vs Boston Breach
For those unaware, the context of a double elimination tournament means that if a team suffers two losses, they’re eliminated from the competition. A loss in the Upper Bracket demotes a team to the Lower Bracket.
Accordingly, only one team from each bracket (upper and lower), will reach the Grand Final. Notably, the Upper Bracket team will have the advantage of a veto choice and also playing one less match on Sunday.
Also note that all matches will be BO5 except for a Grand Final which looks to be a BO9 epic showdown!
Schedule for the CDL Championship Weekend 2022
Instead of ourselves listing the schedule for you, find a perfect Tweet from the Call of Duty League which summarizes all four days of competition and the entire schedule below:
Watch the CDL Championship Weekend 2022 on esportsguide
You can also watch the CDL Championship Weekend 2022 live stream via our very own website. Providing an extensive list of the biggest esports together with streams for each esports match live today or upcoming matches.
In terms of predictions, there are two things to consider. Firstly, we have the standings, but more importantly, every event this year has offered up a different winner!
🎁 GIMME DA LOOT 🎁
Watch #CDLChamps and earn something new, EVERY… SINGLE… DAY.
And especially on Championship Sunday, viewers will have a chance at receiving #ModernWarfare2 Beta Codes as part of our BIGGEST code drop in CDL history 🪂 pic.twitter.com/RYAtlfeEHw
Accordingly, here are the Stage Major winners from this season:
OpTic Texas – Stage 1 Major
Los Angeles Guerrillas – Stage 2 Major (did not qualify for the event)
Seattle Surge – Stage 3 Major
Los Angeles Thieves – Stage 4 Major
However, the likes of FaZe Clan are also heavy favourites for the event as they top the leaderboards in points thanks to consistent placings. Otherwise, the remaining teams are incredibly competitive, especially the likes of Toronto Ultra and New York Subliners.
All-in-all, this level of competition should make for an insane ending to the season!
Here at esportsguide, we’re always ready for the next esports event. Accordingly, there are a tonne of events coming our way this month. Bearing this in month, in this featured article we’ll be highlighting the top5esports events August 2022!
#5 – Six Berlin Major 2022
Prize Pool: $500,000
Dates: 15th August to 21st August
Participants: 16 seeded teams international
Venue: Berlin Theater am Potsdamer Platz
Credits: R6S Esports
Starting off our list, we have the top Rainbow Six Siege event of the summer – Six Berlin Major 2022. Organized by Ubisoft and FACEIT, this is a massive highlight of the competitive season.
Furthermore, this event is the climax of the past stage of regional competition. Therefore, the best teams from the top regions in the world are competing for the prize pool together with essential Six Invitational points to qualify for further events.
Following up the Charlotte Major, this Berlin Major is the second of three this season. The question this time around is whether or North America can hold onto the crown?
Also note that this August there’s the Gamers8 2022 event for R6S, with a massive prize pool but less teams and less stakes.
Be sure to tune into esportsguide to stay up to date withR6S esports!
#4 – CDL Championship 2022 – Esports Events August 2022
Prize: $2,550,000
Dates: 4th August to 7th August
Participants: 8 seeded teams
Venue: Los Angeles Galen Center
Credits: Call of Dutry League
Meanwhile, earlier in August, the Call of Duty League looks to end an epic season of competition.
Specifically, the top 8 teams from the regular season will seed directly into an epic double elimination bracket to compete for the history books. Accordingly, the event is revered as the most important of the entire season.
Considering that each CDL Major this season has offered a different victor, predictions are rather hazy heading into this post-season event. Overall, the favourites include OpTic Texas and Atlanta FaZe although the competition has never been tighter.
In addition to Call of Duty, Rocket League esports is also looking to conclude.
Indeed, heading into this season the format was changed slightly. Now, after three regional events, the entire competition will conclude in epic fashion.
Specifically, Psyonix is inviting the world of competitive Rocket League to compete for over $2,000,000. At each stage of the competition, teams have earned points in order to seed for this huge event.
So much so, the event will be packed with competition – stacked with 24 teams all worthy of the world title!
Furthermore, this year’s event is hugely important considering that last year’s international event was in fact cancelled due to the global situation. Now returning with a live crowd and so many storylines, this looks to be one of the top events of the summer.
#2 – BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2022 – Esports Events August 2022
Prize: $177,498
Dates: 19th August to 28th August
Participants: 12 invited partner teams
Venue: TBA
Credits: BLAST
For those unaware, August is a known player break for international CS;GO competition. Indeed, a time for roster changes and teams to sort things out, the competition is usually not the same once teams return.
Bearing this in mind, the events after the break are hugely exciting – making the BLAST Premier Fall Groups event perfectly timed.
Inviting the partnered teams to the event, this event looks to continue maintaining the incredible form that CS:GO esports has been in recently – can FaZe Clan maintain their dominance?
The event will also serve as qualifying for the BLAST Fall Finals 2022!
Speaking of post-season, the PUBG Mobile World Invitational looks to be PUBG Mobile’s exciting mid-season event.
Organized with Gamers8, KRAFTON, Tencent and ESL joining forces, the top 18 teams in the world have been invited to compete for $2,000,000 offline in Riyadh.
Considering that last year offered record-breaking viewership, the expectatinos for this event are through the roof. Especially considering that an offline crowd is rare for PUBG Mobile, last year’s event featured two separate regions and an online environment.
Given the improvements this year, we’ll be following the event at every step of the way.
Certainly, there’s no better way to beat the summer heat than a live esports event broadcasted to the entire world. Indeed, bearing this in mind, there are a tonne of events taking place from know until the end of September. Accordingly, we’ve done some research – take a look at our top 5 esports events summer 2022!
Before progressing, do note that this is an opinionated list considering multiple factors. Anyways, let’s get started!
#5 – BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2022
Credits: BLAST
Dates: 19th to 28th August
Venue: Offline (Location TBA)
Organizer: BLAST
Prize: $200,000
Starting our list is none other than a premier CS:GO event. Specifically, the Tier 1 esports is known to have a small break in August for players and organizers.
Accordingly, the BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2022 will be an epic comeback for competitive CS:GO after this break. This could involve testing new roster changes, arising new winners for the season and upsets left and right.
Also, BLAST continues to host incredible events for competitive CS:GO – this one looks to be different with the best teams in the world competing for qualification into the subsequent Fall Finals event in November.
While the previous event kicks off the action from a break, the CDL Championship Weekend 2022 is the essential post-season event for competitive Call of Duty.
Indeed, the top 8 franchised teams from the Call of Duty League will be qualifying based on season points and hoping to cement themselves in the history books. As the peak of a competitive season, Champs is recognized for its viewership, moments and competitive intensity. All of this is celebrated by the huge prize pool which teams are playing for.
Furthermore, the winners earn rings and write themselves permanently as the best team of the entire season – in this case, CoD Vanguard.
Stay up to date with Call of Duty here on esportsguide!
#3 – RLCS 2021-22 World Championship
Credits: Psyonix
Dates: 4th to 14th August
Venue: Dickies Arena, Fort Worth
Organizer: Psyonix
Prize: $2,085,000
Continuing with this train of thought, the RLCS 2021-22 World Championship is a similar kind of event. However, planning to be a little more epic and narrative, thanks to a longer format, the event ranks higher for us.
In particular, the very best international teams for competitive Rocket League will fight to be named the best – a huge total of 24 teams will be competing offline for the $2,000,000 prize pool.
Considering the international appeal of competitive Rocket League, we’re expecting huge viewership, an epic return to the offline stage with an awesome crowd and surreal plays – the only way to end a season of effort!
Check out the tournament page here on esportsguide!
#2 – VALORANT Champions 2022 – Esports Events Summer 2022
While Rocket League remains a growing prospect, competitive VALORANT continues to cement itself and climb to a Tier 1 status.
Under the watchful eye of Riot Games, the second year of competitive VALORANT has brought with it an impressive amount of growth, community interaction and hence, we’re super excited for VALORANT Champions 2022.
Inviting the very best teams from across the entire world, VALORANT Champions this year looks to improve over last year, which was already an incredible event, in order to end Year 2.
Doing so, Riot Games has once again opted for a long format which really helps drive up the hype and makes the event incredible viewable thanks to matches being spread out properly.
Check out the tournament page on esportsguide here.
#1 – PUBG Mobile World Invitational 2022
Credits: Tencent
Dates: 11th to 13th August
Venue: Riyadh Boulevard, Saudi Arabia
Organizer: KRAFTON/Tencent Games/ESL/Gamers8
Prize: $2,000,000
Topping our list is perhaps a surprising event. Not necessarily the top event of the season, this event is a celebration of competitive PUBG Mobile and mobile esports.
Heading into each PUBG Mobile event, we need to respect the support the esport gets from across the world, especially regions such as South East Asia and Indonesia. So much so, last year the event pushed over 1,000,000 peak viewers and hence, we can’t wait to see how this event looks to push the boundaries for mobile esports.
Also, the incredible prize pool of $2,000,000 also looks to crank things up a notch to a level we’ve never seen before.
Stay up to date with competitive PUBG Mobile here on esportsguide!
Other Events
Credits: Krafton
To conclude, here are some honorable mentions taking place this summer:
We’ll be sure to provide viewership details for the top events this summer and even afterwards! As a note, remember that the likes of Worlds (LoL) and The International 2022 (Dota 2) kick off in October.
For those unaware, for Call of Duty esports, nothing is more important than CDL Championship. Indeed, as the final event of the year, champions are decided here. Accordingly, that’s why news about CDL 2022 Championship Weekend is exciting – read on to learn more!
Indeed, the following is the announcement from Activision Blizzard regarding the final event of the year:
Run it back! The Call of Duty League 2022 Championship Weekend is going down August 4–7 at the Galen Center in Los Angeles, California. The biggest moment in Call of Duty esports is coming up fast and the stakes couldn’t be higher.
Only the top eight teams will earn a spot to the Playoffs and NY Subliners Major IV is the last chance for teams to make that final push for a chance to compete in the final match on Championship Sunday.
