Gamescom gets underway in Cologne, Germany next week from August 22nd to 26th, and this year organisers say esports is represented more strongly than ever before.
Dom Sacco provides a preview of the esports tournaments and activities taking place at Gamescom 2017.
The ESL Arena
Most of Gamescom’s esports action will take place here, a 5,000 square metre arena featuring tournaments such as CSGO, FIFA 17, League of Legends, Rainbow Six: Siege and more (see further down this article for more details).
There will also be an esports zone for live demos, meet and greets and autograph sessions. Over at the ESL Playground powered by Red Bull there will be community tournaments for games like FIFA 17, Rocket League and Clash Royale, as well as the Oculus VR title, The Unspoken.
And of course, the smash breakthrough hit of 2017 will be making its esports debut.
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
The PUBG Invitational will feature a $350,000 prize pool and 80 of the world’s best PUBG players and influencers taking part.
The Gamescom PUBG Invitational will include Solo mode, Duo mode, Duo FPP (First Person Perspective) mode and Squad mode across the four-day event, where the best overall score from three games played will determined the winner.
Players can purchase vanity items in PUBG, with the proceeds to be used as prizing for winners at the Gamescom Invitational and for charities.
There’s more details in our original news story here.
League of Legends stars head to Arena of Valor
One week ago, Tencent Games brought its 5v5 mobile MOBA Arena of Valor to Europe – now it’s bringing its esports scene to Europe too.
On August 23rd, Gamescom visitors can check out the game all day long at the ESL Arena in Hall 9 and challenge with MOBA veterans Alliance (Dota 2) and the former players of Fnatic (League of Legends), to win prizes. Each match’s MVP will be awarded an iPhone 7 Plus.
The highlight of the event will be the star show match at 6pm between Spandauer Inferno and the Legends team, consisting of Neil (DotaCinema), and world-famous players xPeke, YellOwStaR, Cyanide, Loda and Akke. It will be the first major Arena of Valor show match in Europe.
ESL Meisterschaft Finals
On Saturday August 26th, ESL Germany’s season featuring the new league format will conclude in League of Legends, CSGO and FIFA 17.
The top German teams and players will fight for the title and the lion’s share of the €60,000 prize pool across all three games.
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Rainbow Six: Siege Pro League Season 2 Finals
The Rainbow Six: Siege Pro League Season 2 Finals are coming to ESL Arena’s main stage on Friday August 25th and Saturday August 26th.
Eight teams from Latin America, North America and Europe will compete for the lion’s share of a whopping $237,500 prize pool.
British host Matt Andrews will be hosting this one following a successful tournament last year.
Esports News UK’s Jacob Hale will be covering this tournament on the site, so do check back next week for coverage.
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Paysafecard Beat the Legends Vol. III
On Friday August 25th, the top 16 CSGO amateur teams from the soon starting open qualification will have the chance to prove themselves next to two pro players: bodyy and apEX from G2 Esports, the reigning ESL Pro League CSGO Season 5 champions.
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Project CARS World Final
The top five teams from the SMS-R Championship Series will be taking the stage for the World Final.
This features a €5,000 prize pool – on top of the €15,000 that the teams have won over the course of the season – and will take place on Wednesday August 23th.
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Crossfire Stars European Finals
Held for the first time by Smilegate Europe, the CROSSFIRE European Tournament finals are to take place over the course of Gamescom 2017.
The CFS European Finals will comprise semi-finals and finals played on August 24th at the ESL Arena in Hall 9 and are being organised together by Smilegate and ESL.
Europe’s top four teams – FlipSid3 Tactics, Serenity Sports, PENTA Sports, and Exotic Esports – will compete for a share of the $20,800 prize pool and the chance to prove their skills at the Crossfire Grand Finals in Shanghai, China.
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Blade & Soul European Regional Championship
The Blade & Soul European Regional Championship takes to the Main Stage at the ESL Arena on Thursday August 24th.
Eight of the best teams have made their way to the Regional Championship and will be competing for the title of European Champion. The winner will represent Europe at the World Championship in South Korea this September.
PlayStation Masters
The PlayStation MASTERS takes place from Tuesday to Thursday – there will be various daily tournaments with finals on the weekend.
The matches can be followed live or via Twitch stream on the big PlayStation esports stage in hall 7.
GameStar tournaments – Clash Royale
GameStar (Webedia) and ESWC (Esports World Convention) will also be hosting tournaments. There will be Clash Royale and others on the stage in hall 5.1.
32 players coming from qualifiers will fight to win the Clash Royale title and a cash prize worth €5,000.
Battlefield and FIFA
The esports mode in Battlefield 1 will be presented for the first time at Gamescom this year, courtesy of EA.
Plus, Puma will be holding a FIFA tournament: the Puma FragrancesCup 2017. There will be six qualification rounds, with the final taking place at Gamescom on August 26th.
German Star Youtubers RealFifa and FifaGaming will comment the matches on the ESWC Gamescom stage.
WoW $100,000 Championship
World of Warcraft will also be making an appearance at Gamescom.
Blizzard Entertainment is holding the European Championship Finals there, with a tidy prize pool of $100,000 up for grabs.
More Blizzard shizzle
UK streamers Valkia and Stylosa will be streaming live from the Blizzard booth – full details here.
There will be a world premiere of a new Overwatch animated short and visitors can try out a new Overwatch map. will take place on our main stage and via live stream during the Blizzard Reveal Ceremony on Wednesday, August 23.
The Hearthstone Global Games Finals will take place live on the Hearthstone stage on Friday and Saturday, August 25th and 26th.
A Heroes of the Storm: Showdown will see community personalities and pros duking it out in live show matches on the main stage, including Team Liquid and Team expert on Wednesday, August 23rd, and popular German YouTubers ApeCrime and PietSmiet on Friday August 25th.
Diablo III’s Rise of the Necromancer pack will be playable on PC and PlayStation 4, and StarCraft: Remastered will also be playable on the show floor. Plus, the newest StarCraft II co-op commander will be playable for the first time at the Blizzard booth.
SPOBIS Gaming & Media trade event
There’s a new SPOBIS Gaming & Media congress at Gamescom, bringing together executives in esports, gaming, media and advertising.
This B2B trade conference ‘addresses current thematic complexes’ and brings together top decision makers from the various industries, with on-stage talks, masterclasses and roundtable discussions. More than 700 participants are expected.
The SPOBIS Gaming & Media takes place on August 21st in the Congress Centre North.
“Never before has the offering of e-sports tournaments at Gamescom been this extensive. Games fans from around the world can look forward to many matches.”
Gamescom press release
Esports News UK’s Jacob Hale will be covering Gamescom and the Rainbow Six tournament live.
FOLLOW US FOR MORE GAMESCOM CONTENT:
Web: https://esports-news.co.uk
Twitter: https://twitter.com/eSports_News_UK
Discord: https://discord.gg/KcuFDc7
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eSportsNewsUK/
Sources: ESL Gaming / Gamescom
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Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
