Following a Huge Year for Esports, The Call of Duty League’s 2023 Season Kicks Off New Era

With a new season underway, we take a moment to appreciate what we’ve been able to deliver for fans, set the tone for what’s in store this year and share how bright the future is for esports.

Entering my second full season as General Manager of Call of Duty® Esports, our esports team is excited to continue implementing the vision we set out to accomplish when I first joined the league. At the start, the Call of Duty League™ Leadership Team and I crafted a multi-year plan to grow the audience – the results of which are starting to come to fruition. As we have continued to grow, so has esports in general, and the future just keeps getting brighter.

Game launch plus advanced scheduling leads to more viewership and engagement

A major pillar among the format changes we wanted to implement was to move up the start date for the season. The 2023 season presented our first opportunity to do so and coincided with our conviction in a successful launch of Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® II and we wanted to meet that moment in stride. To that end, we spent the better part of last year in collaboration with the game studios and our Call of Duty League teams executing a plan to kick off the season just 35 days after the game launch.  The power of starting the season around a historic game launch has not been more evident than our opening weekend results.  With 186,000 peak viewers that weekend, the number of people witnessing the start of our season shattered the previous record of 153,000 viewers.  Starting our season early and activating while millions of players are enjoying the new game provides us the opportunity to connect with our audience and bring more fans to the Call of Duty League.   

We are seeing benefits to changing the format to setting matchup schedules well in advance of the Season start date.  Going back to the 2021 season when teams had a role in choosing their matchups just weeks before they played, data showed that during the regular season, some teams were not facing each other while others played each other multiple times.  While creating parity in the schedule, we also hoped prescheduled matches would provide teams with the lead time to better market their matches in advance to viewers.

This year, Minnesota RØkkr took full advantage of this opportunity and leveraged this into a chance to connect with their local fan base.  With the season schedule in hand months in advance, they were able to secure arena space and work with their scheduled opponents to play regular qualifying matches in front of an in-person Minnesota crowd.  It’s meaningful for us that our teams have as many opportunities as they can to build their local fan base.

We’re always looking for opportunities to have thousands of people in attendance to see Call of Duty League in all its raw emotion. This is when we can place our best foot forward with the spectacle of the production, the fanatic energy, and the highest display of competition.

Unique experiences in store for the Majors

Creating one-of-a-kind moments at the Majors is something we’ve been focused on to keep these marquee tournaments fresh and engaging for our fans. This year Major I started with a pro-am format that will differentiate it from the other Majors.

Last year in the middle of the season, we started an exhibition tournament called the Pro-Am Classic, where we allowed four amateur teams to qualify and play against our pro teams.  No CDL points were available – the only thing at stake was prize money and bragging rights. Entering this season, we wanted to build upon that idea of opening up play to more of our community.

During our 2023 Season planning sessions, one version of our season calendar had the Pro-Am format for Major I and to our ownership group’s credit, they voiced strong support for this iteration that could bring the community into the fold so early on. In fact, they built upon it by saying we should attach points to the event to increase the stakes.  Collaborations such as this with team owners have been huge for us to design an impactful, community-centered kick-off this season.

Major I is an epic Call of Duty celebration

Another special significance to the first Major of the season was the smorgasbord of Call of Duty that took place in Raleigh, North Carolina. The weekend included the first-ever LAN Call of Duty®: Mobile World Championship, the 3rd annual CODE Bowl, a Call of Duty® Warzone™: Mobile showcase and a Challengers Open bringing together the best parts of this franchise in a true festival celebration.

The event concluded with the New York Subliners continuing their strong play from the latter part of last season by taking home the hardware. Following the retirement of arguably the greatest Call of Duty player of all time, Ian “Crimsix” Porter, this offseason and starting 0-2 at qualifiers, things looked bleak for the Subliners. A reconstructed roster with the addition of two new members to the four-man team, returning player, Matthew “KiSMET” Tinsley led the team from the Big Apple and won tournament MVP.

An iconic venue to host Major II

Continuing our theme of creating unique experiences at Major events, we can now add “vintage major league ballpark” to the list. When the Boston Breach rose their hand to host Major II from Feb. 2-5, we never imagined that they would pick a venue like Fenway Park. During the Major II event, the Call of Duty Challengers circuit will be hosted in the State Street Pavilion in Fenway Park and professionals will compete next door at the MGM Music Hall at Fenway.

In the heart of the self-proclaimed “City of Champions”, it will be a unique merging of old and new as it will be the first major esports event to take place at the venue, home to the Boston Red Sox since 1912.

Branding your own identity

Last but not least amongst changes this season, we have to talk about merch. Over the years, teams have expressed an interest in showcasing more of their own flavor and personality in unique in-game and out-of-game designs. This year, we provided them with a blank canvas to decorate the team kits their players wear, and teams will also be creating their own weapon blueprint designs as part of a team MTX bundle release later this Spring, which we’ve never done before. The result has been a wide variety of how teams have designed these items and expressed their brand identity. It’s been very rewarding to see the fans respond and support the teams in new and creative ways.

More growth to come

As we look back on Major I and prepare for Major II, I marvel at how much esports has grown in just the past two years and especially within our League. It’s been remarkable to see the evolution of this League and a huge testament to everyone across the League for continuing to tweak and improve. We are just in the early innings of the CDL’s story and hope the changes we've implemented and continue to work on have set us up to take a huge leap forward in 2023.

As told to Activision Blizzard King managing editor Marques Edge.

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Take Action:

🏆 For Call of Duty League tournament results and schedule.

📺 Catch all the action by subscribing to the Call of Duty League YouTube channel.

📰 Stay up to date on the latest Call of Duty League news and events.

🏪 Visit the Call of Duty League shop for the newest merch to rep your favorite team.

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About the Author:

Daniel Tsay is the General Manager of Call of Duty Esports, where he oversees the strategic direction of esports programs across Call of Duty League, Warzone and Mobile. Prior to joining Activision Blizzard in March 2021, he worked at the NBA, first as Senior Manager for Global Strategy where he helped the NBA enter the esports industry and then last as Associate Vice President of League Operations for the NBA 2K League. Before the NBA, Daniel worked in the finance industry as an investment banker.