Esports organization Eleague ran its first Street Fighter V Invitational last year, and this year, it’s planning something extra. In addition to the main tournament, it’s partnered with esports platform Battlefy to host a Street Fighter V Open for amateurs. Registration begins on March 30.
Eleague is best known for its Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournaments, offering hefty prize pools of $1 million for its major championships. These events caught the attention of livestreaming platform Twitch, which signed an exclusive broadcasting deal with Eleague for its CS: GO tourneys earlier this year. It also found a mainstream audience with its TV broadcasts on TBS, which Eleague says has drawn over 60 million viewers since launch.
This is the second year it is hosting the Street Fighter V Invitational, and competitors have a shot at a $250,000 prize pool. It’s not the only competition for the fighting game, as the Capcom Pro Tour is kicking off its regionals later this month. The Evolution Championship Series (known colloquially as Evo) also includes Street Fighter V as one of its tournament games.
Street Fighter V also isn’t Eleague’s only tournament based on a fighting game. Last year, it debuted its Injustice 2 World Championship, based on Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment’s popular fighter that pits Batman and Superman against the likes of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
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Eleague hasn’t shared any ticketing information about the Street Fighter V Invitational just yet, but it will begin airing on TBS and its Twitch channel at 8 p.m. Pacific on June 1. The finalists face off on July 13. The amateur Street Fighter V Open will start on April 21, and its grand finale will be broadcasted on Twitch right before the invitational’s showdown on July 13 as well. The open will take place on Battlefy’s platform, which enables players to enroll in and organize esports tournaments.
Turner Sports chief content officer Craig Barry, one of the people in charge at Eleague, said that the Street Fighter V Open is a way to “[expand] the accessibility to our live event competition to a broader esports audience.”
“Competitive gamers of all levels will now have an opportunity to engage with this event, and Battlefy has an established pipeline to help create those experiences for amateur gamers,” said Barry.
