Fighting games have long been a staple of the competitive gaming community, so why should Mortal Kombat X be any different?
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ESL recently held the Fatal 8 invitational, part of the Mortal Kombat X Worldwide Competitive program, to plenty of success. The league announced that the four hour event totaled over 200,000 hours watched and a peak concurrent viewership (CCU) of 85,449--promising numbers for the title.
ESL held the tournament at its Burbank studios, which will host the Halo Championship Series Season 2 finals later this year, as well. The studio was at full capacity, and ESL says viewing parties in London and Paris celebrated the game as well. All of this has led to a full eSports league for Mortal Kombat X, which will begin this month.
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"The fighting game community is one that we were eager to welcome into the ESL ecosystem. But we knew we had to do it right," said Joshua Gray, Creative Producer at ESL and Fatal 8 host. "A lot of time went into perfecting the event's build up - from the personalized invitations to the trailers that really did tease. We put ourselves under a lot of pressure, having built up so many expectations.
"All of us here at ESL are extremely happy with how the event went, and with the reaction from the community. Fatal 8 was just the beginning: our ESL Pro League for Mortal Kombat X kicks off May 3rd across our three regions and promises to be spectacular."
The league will be played on Xbox One and boasts $1,000 tournaments each week in the U.S. (the weekly competitions in CIS regions will be played on PC). There will be $2,500 mid-season showdowns in each region, and the best will move on to a $50,000 global final on July 11. Of those who qualify for the finals, seven players will come from North America, five from Europe and two from CIS territories, with two spots left to be announced.