ESL has announced that the ESL Pro League Season 12 tournament will be held online despite the company's initial expectation that it would already be able to return to a LAN format. ESL previously announced that it plans to return to offline tournaments when international player travel becomes possible without restrictions. It has now been decided that the competition will be held in separate regional divisions, following a pattern already practiced during the coronavirus pandemic.
The tournament, which will cover all major regions – Europe, North America, Asia, Oceania and South America – will take place between October 1 and 6. A significant part of the prize pool will go to Europe – teams will raffle off $450,000. North American teams will have a chance to win some share of the $225,000 prize pool. In other regions, the sums will be much smaller – $25,000 each, which is not surprising, given that Asia, South America and Oceania are represented by only four teams each.
The biggest fight will unfold in the European division – sixteen teams, including Russian Natus Vincere and Spirit. ESL recently announced the final rosters for the U.S. divisions. Specifically in North America, eight teams will compete for supremacy, including 100 Thieves and Evil Geniuses.
