The XDefiant HP League, an esports tournament series for Ubisoft’s new arena shooter XDefiant, is about to launch.
The platform is designed to ‘foster a comprehensive ecosystem for players at all skill levels’, as well as organisations, content creators and broadcasters. It comes after XDefiant was released on May 21st 2024 for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.
The inaugural season of the HP League promises a prize pool of $20,000.
The HP League – billed as ‘EU and NA’s biggest league in XDefiant’ – will feature four divisions in its initial season, with free-to-enter open qualifiers for division 1 and 2. the pro level players in division one, and those starting out in division six.
HP League’s UK owner, Ace, aka James, says he’s been in esports for almost a decade, and recognised a gap in the emerging XDefiant scene to create the platform.
He said he played for a US CoD clan called Gunz4Funz when he was 15, before helping to manage them, ran Clarity Esports in the CoD EU Challengers scene and set up an event brand called TheHub which catered for gamers during the lockdowns. James said Clarity merged with Ireland’s Katana Gaming, but he later broke away from Katana to join Vitalize as a co-owner. He also previously launched the Amateur Roller Champions League back in 2022.
James says the XDefiant HP League has garnered significant behind-the-scenes support, with prominent figures like former Call of Duty pro player BLFire endorsing the initiative and serving as a league ambassador and caster.
HP League was previously partnered with the XDefiant Competitive and Women of XDefiant communities, but recently cut ties with them.
The HP League has also announced Conny and Narski as casters, as well as Katie Bedford, Ardy, Llama77, CMoore, Hyperactive, Skavyy, Zojalyx, Zep, MarkOfGee, ChiefLid and IHOLDSHIFT. And JayTheGam3r is the league’s content director.
Organisers also say they’re ‘actively collaborating with T1 players to refine the competitive format and establish a ruleset that aligns with player expectations’.
Ace aka James, the owner of HP League, told Esports News UK:
“I’ve built and designed this league for everyone, not just the players. I want to inspire greatness from the community and provide a platform for everyone to be able to thrive off – and start showcasing the beauty of amateur esports!”
Ace, HP League
“My whole time since 2019 I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to help grow the esports industry within the UK, building brands and advising other brands on how to be stable and continue growing.”
League ambassador and caster BLFire added: “I’m excited to help support the XDefiant HP League along with Ace’s vision to create XDefiant’s largest esports league. These guys are providing a platform for all players, amateur to professional, to make a name for themselves and showcase their talents. They’ve announced leagues for NA/EU for $10,000 each. Stay tuned.”
HP League owner James also owns an esports organisation called Vendetta Esports, which is sponsoring the league and also competing in it.
We asked him about the conflict of interest and competitive integrity concerns.
He said: “To ensure competitive integrity at all times, any sponsoring esports organisations will get no preferential treatment. As the owner I have relinquished my say in any decisions around Vendetta Esports to keep myself impartial at all times, and they will be dealt with by our senior management team and admins.”
You can join the XDefiant HP League Discord here
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.
