Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Critical Ops is certainly a flagship competitive game of its platform, and so we’re looking forward to seeing how this tournament turns out. ESL was likely utilised since the company has its own online league infrastructure used for a variety of other games, much like MLG.Įsports Insider says: The fact that ESL has decided to work so closely with this game’s developers means that the entertainment company is seriously considering the impact of mobile games on the market. This is the first time that a major league organizer on the scale of ESL has helped with the “finals” or primary championships of a mobile-only game. This is likely a move towards standardization of rules. They also claim that the rules will be tighter, with use of five-on-five matches and enforcing the limit of a single squad per organization for the duration. The open cups will have their own prizes, varying from cash to in-game “weapon cases” used to accessorise characters. Two teams each from North America and Europe will attend the main event, which will have its own prize pool. Eventually, the top teams will face off in a larger tournament to qualify for the live event. We will release more information about the live event as soon as we can.”Īccording to the joint announcement, teams will begin by playing through six open cups run on the ESL Play platform. “However, the live event itself is not organised by ESL.
Our goal is to find best two teams from both NA and EU regions and that’s what ESL is going to help us with.” “That’s why the first Critical Ops live event was a natural step for us.
“We want to test our capabilities in an offline environment,” Critical Force Esports Manager Kasperi Kivistö explained to Esports Insider. The live event, though, will not be run by ESL. The bulk of the league will take place online starting in May into July, and a LAN finals event is planned for August in Los Angeles. "We will become the global market leader of real-time mobile FPS multiplayer games with the largest FPS esports community in the world", Piirainen concluded.ESL has partnered with Critical Force from mobile first-person shooter Critical Ops to form a Critical Ops Championship Series. These are great numbers considering we've only soft launched." Critical Ops has about 300 000 daily active users. "Every second there are 20 000 gamers playing the game. "Critical Ops has grown into one of the most promising mobile esports titles," Piirainen continued. A smartphone and an internet connection is all that is required whether mobile esports is played professionally and globally for money prizes or for the bragging rights", says Piirainen.Ĭritical Ops has already been played in tournaments for several months, attracting hundreds of teams globally and there's even a tournament for money being played at the ESL Mobcrush Cup that started last Sunday.
"Critical Ops doesn't require expensive computer gear and accessories.
The FPS is influenced by CS:GO but has been developed for mobile phones and tablets instead, and is described as "the go-to FPS game for professional gamers of the mobile generation." I strongly believe that with Critical Ops we have a great chance of making a big impact on the whole eSports market", emphasises Piirainen. Better yet, the new generation of gamers is mobile-first. "Mobile devices have a massive global distribution, meaning large numbers of players and wider audiences for tournaments. Finnish developer Critical Force's mobile FPS game Critical Ops may be a game to keep an eye out for in the future in terms of mobile esports, as it has already garnered 10 million downloads in soft launch and players are playing it for money in tournaments right now.Ĭritical Force's founder Veli-Pekka Piirainen believes that esports will gather a billion US dollars in 2017, and mobile esports will be a big part of that.