FACEIT, the company behind a whole bunch of competitive esports tournaments, has announced a collegiate program to develop players in CS:GO, Valorant, and League of Legends. This comes after the tournament organiser partnered with Ubisoft for a collegiate-level Rainbow Six Siege league.
The CS:GO Premier League will feature the majority of the available prize monies, boasting an impressive $30,000 prize pool. The tournament will consist of a ten-week long ‘Swiss format’ season with playoffs in spring next year. The Valorant Premiere League will take the same format, but the prize pool is a third of the size, at $10,000.
FACEIT’s collegiate League of Legends tournament will take a different format, however, aiming to “encourage regional and local rivalries”, which only serves to prove that it’s never seen the chaos of an Old Firm derby in Glasgow. Rivalries aside, the League of Legends Invitational Series will involve state and regional tournaments to decide which teams make it to the finals for a chance at the $15,000 prize pool.
Duran Parsi, head of collegiate esports at FACEIT, explains that the company has “many more plans” to provide resources and platforms to schools and collegiate esports clubs around the world so they can improve their gaming communities. He also made sure to point out that, although a relatively new endeavour, he believes the collegiate esports scene to be “an important component for the whole competitive ecosystem”.
The college circuit could be a chance for players who don’t usually have access to high-end PCs or lightning-fast internet connections to compete at the highest level. Once that infrastructure is in place, it could open up all manner of esports opportunities for less privileged and disadvantaged kids and students. However, it’s not yet clear what resources and platforms FACEIT’s planning to provide to these schools and colleges.
If you’re hoping to get good, but aren’t eligible to participate in these tournaments at the moment, be sure to check out our Valorant tier list, LoL tier list, and other esports guides to get yourself off the ground.