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There is plenty still to come in 2023, and there has never been a better time to be a fan of esports. In this guide, we’re running through some of the events that are taking place in the second half of the year. Popular events come in the form of conventions too, such as EGX London 2023 which takes place in October, but we’re mainly focusing on tournaments in this guide. All of them will garner plenty of attention from the world of esports and gaming.
Let’s dive into some of the biggest events to look forward to and start to fill up your diary.
The Thunderpick World Championship looks set to become one of the biggest events on the calendar. It is a new tournament for players of CS: GO, and has a huge prize fund worth the equivalent of $600,000 in Bitcoin.
This tournament is already underway, but it is split into different competitions, with tournaments around the US and Europe leading up to a grand final which takes place in November 2023. The regional rounds have a prize fund of $25,000 each and are played online, but the in-person LAN event will have the biggest viewing figures as well as the bulk of the winnings. M80, Wildcard, and ENCE are all already confirmed to be at the event.
Details of the event can be found at https://thunderpick.io/world-championship, where there is also information about the rest of the schedule of the tournament and betting promotions. Viewers can also find details about streaming at the site, and which Twitch feeds they will need to tune into to keep up with the tournament. The finals will get underway on October 27th, culminating in the very last day on 5th November.
The International is one of the biggest events in the gaming calendar and tens to boast huge viewerships. Dota can have tens of thousands of people simultaneously logging into the Twitch channel to watch, and it also has an in-game client so those who have the game installed can watch the biggest events within the game. This includes The International 2023.
The tournament will also be streamed via their YouTube Channel and Twitch channel, and the finals take place at the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle between the 12 October 2023 and the 29 October 2023. We know that some teams will already be at the event, such as Evil Geniuses, and Tundra Esports, but a lot of the places are still up for grabs.
These will be decided by events in North America and China between 17-21 August, as well as South America and Eastern Europe between 22-26 August (2 slots for South America, 1 slot for Eastern Europe). The final three slots will go to teams who compete in Southeast Asia and Western Europe: 27-31 August (2 slots for Western Europe, 1 slot for Southeast Asia).
As well as being more than a decade old, this tournament is one of the most lucrative out there for esports teams. In 2022, there was USD 18,930,775 paid out in prize money, and this could be even higher in 2023.
This event serves as the final of the Apex Legends Global Series and sees many of the best Apex Legends players from all over the world culminating in one location to battle it out for the title.
The event will take place 6-10 September 2023 at the Resorts World Arena in Birmingham, England, and has a huge prize fund. The USD 5,000,000 prize pool is paid out throughout the three main events in the ALGS calendar, with $2,000,000 being paid out at this event in September. The first place in the tournament is worth $600,000, making it an extremely high-paying tournament.
The Championship is contested among 40 different teams, and these come from a variety of different countries. Throughout the season they play for ALGS Playoff Points at other events, and there is also a Last Chance Qualifier event that allows teams to make it to the final.
FaZe clan, Fnatic, NRG, and XSET all look set to qualify via their Playoff Points, but the final groupings and seedings for the tournament have not yet been released.
Many people travel around the world attending these events and watching their favorite stars, and for those who can’t, there are lots of opportunities to stream and watch online and follow along with video diaries and more content on YouTube and Twitch. Though some of the biggest tournaments of the year have already come and gone, there is still a lot going on, and events continue throughout the rest of 2023, and then we will do it all again in 2024.
