As we near the end of 2019 and this decade as a whole, it is time to look ahead to what’s next for esports. One of the biggest reveals and releases this year was the surprise drop of Apex Legends. Before the announcement of the game, we had little to no information about it.

In fact, we barely even knew it existed. Then the game was announced and released in the same week for free on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Since then, it has become a global phenomenon of its own and is one of the biggest battle royale games out there alongside PUBG and Fortnite.

EA and Respawn Entertainment Reveal Apex Legends Global Series 2020

Even with the overwhelming success and popularity of Apex Legends, there is one thing that has been largely missing this year: dedicated esports. Competitions have happened this year, sure, but they have mostly been one-off tournaments for only the best players to compete in.

In fact, there have been only a couple of events officially held by publisher EA and developer Respawn Entertainment. One of these was the Preseason Invitational that had a strange name to it, giving off the impression that there would be a season of sorts and now we know that there will be one.

However, it isn’t happening until next year. Today, EA and Respawn announced the first ever Apex Legends Global Series 2020. Described as a collection of various official, highly competitive events around the world, it will bring together contenders at all skill levels on PC.

Perhaps the biggest deficit of the series is that last part right there: at this time, it will only be available to those players who are on the PC platform. There is no word of it being extended to console players on PS4 and Xbox One. Regardless, it is an open series that players can participate in.

How the Global Series Will Work

How the Apex Legends Global Series 2020 will work is that it is made up of several different live events that are at different levels around the world. There are 12 total global live events that will happen throughout the year in 2020 with PC players from more than 60 countries competing for a share in the massive prize pool.

There are four main sections of the Apex Legends Global Series 2020 and they each make a way for players to get their entry in the competitive scene. It all begins with the online tournaments portion of the series. This is going to be the entry point for most players who are competing on PC.

Various online tournaments will be hosted throughout the year and a player will have the chance to earn Global Series points as they compete in these tournaments. These aren’t the live events that will be throughout the year but will give players the chance to make it to one of those.

We're excited to announce the Apex Legends Global Series!

? Twelve global live events
? First online tournament on Jan 25 using new tournament servers
? $3 million up for grabs

Get all the details on the Apex Legends Global Series: https://t.co/6gjYDtrTka pic.twitter.com/4BNb5pATGl

— Apex Legends (@PlayApex) December 17, 2019

If you do well enough during these tournaments and earn enough points, you could earn the chance to qualify for one of the live events. The online tournaments will be powered by the Battlefy platform and the first one has already been announced.

The first online tournament will be happening fairly soon as there is just over a month until it begins on January 25, 2020. It is open to all players on PC in the more than 60 countries that are eligible with registration for the tournament beginning on January 11.

There are teases for the second online tournament as well that will be taking place on February 29 and March 2, 2020. There, the top teams from each region with the most points will travel to and get accommodations covered for the first Premier event.

The second of the four events that will be held as part of the Apex Legends Global Series 2020 is the challenger events. This one is a bit more vaguely explained and it will likely take some time to fully grasp what this type of event is all about.

The crux of it is that the challenge events are actually one of the live events and they will take place in various locations around the world. They are some sort of regional competition that will allow the local talent in that area to shine and possibly win a reserved spot in the upcoming Major (more on that in a bit).

Premier events are the third type of events that you can participate in, being another live event format. The global live events will have the top online competitors from each global regions go up against one another. Those top players will likely be determined by the online tournaments.

This global tournament of sorts will be a chance for the best players from around the world to show their stuff and earn even more Global Series points than they would have in normal events. In addition, they will have the chance to earn “advanced placement invitations” to the Major event.

The wording of that is strange and implies that there could be a list of sorts that determines who gets into the Major, or that the invitation might be for a future Major event rather than the next one. It could be nothing but the wording is odd in that case.

Major Events Will Be the Highlight of the Year

Speaking of the Majors, that is the fourth and final significant event that will be part of the Apex Legends Global Series 2020. These are described as the “flagship EA live events” and will be one of the main events for the whole year of competitive battle royale.

Here, the best teams from around the world who have earned themselves invites will have the chance to compete for the largest prize pools out of all of the competitions. EA notes that the winners of these Majors will be considered among the best players in the entire world.

There will be a total of four Majors that will be hosted throughout the inaugural season of the Global Series. In a way, these events sound a lot like the Mythic Championships that Magic: The Gathering started hosting this year where there were multiple major events hosted live.

Of the four Majors that will happen next year, the first three of them will be pretty similar to one another with a very special fourth and final one. The first three Majors will have 300 players in total who will be competing in each event, divided up into 100 teams of three players each.

At each of those events, the 300 players will be competing for a share of a massive $500,000 prize pool. While we don’t have too many details about how each of the Major events will work in terms of match format, we do know how the finals of each of them will be.

Each of the Majors will culminate in a finals that will be incorporating the match points system that was initially introduced at the aforementioned Preseason Invitational that was held in Poland earlier this year. It is a unique format that sets the competitions apart from other similar games.

How it works is that teams will need to reach a predetermined points threshold through various activities like winning matches, getting eliminations, and so on. Once a team has reached the max points necessary for that finals, they will achieve the match point similar to sports.

The tournament will come to an end when a team who has already activated their match point wins a match and becomes the champions. Doing so will make that team the winner of the Major event. The four of these events will be divided up throughout the seasons of the year with the first one being held in a couple of months.

The first of the Majors has already been revealed and players will be able to watch it live March 13-15 in Arlington, Texas. There, we will get the first major glimpse of how the Global Series will work. There will be three more, with the fourth and final one being specifically interesting.

Towards the end of next year, the fourth and final Major event will be the Global Series Championship. There, the top 60 Global Series teams from around the world will be invited to compete in the biggest competition of the year for the game to see who will come out the world champion.

The grand prize pool for the event will be a whopping $1 million, double that of the normal Major events and taking up a third of the total prize money that will be given out throughout the course of the year. Together with the $1.5 million from the three other Major events, that leaves around $500,000 for all other tournaments in the series.

Current Schedule and How to Watch Apex Legends Global Series 2020

At this time, we have a rough schedule of when exactly the events that are part of the Global Series will take place. It all begins with the first online tournament that will take place on January 25 and 27, 2020. It will be followed by the second tournament on February 29 and March 2.

After that, players will be able to check out the first Major that will be happening March 13-15 in Arlington, Texas at the Esports Stadium there. After that, the dates and events become a little more ambiguous. You can find the full list of the schedule for the remainder of the year below in chronological order:

• Online tournament three: Dates to be announced
• Premier event one: Dates unannounced
• Premier event two: Dates unannounced
• Online tournament four: Dates unannounced
• Online tournament five: Dates TBA
• Major event two: Summer 2020
• Premier event three: Dates TBA
• Premier event four: Dates TBA
• Online tournament six: Dates TBA
• Online tournament seven: Dates TBA
• Major event three: Fall 2020
• Online tournament eight: Dates TBA
• Premier event five: Dates TBA
• Online tournament nine: Dates TBA
• Premier event six: Dates TBA
• Premier event seven: Dates TBA
• Premier event eight: Dates TBA
• Online tournament 10: Dates TBA
• Major four – Global Series Championship: Winter 2021

Then there is the question of how to watch the Global Series 2020. All Majors and Premier events, along with some of the online tournaments, will be live-streamed for players to watch online as it happens. Unfortunately, we don’t have specifics just yet on how to watch it at this time.

That is likely to come as we near the first online tournament in the Global Series and/or the first Major that will be happening in Texas. What is great, though, is that EA acknowledges that it will have more details soon for players who want to watch online or attend in person.

This leads us to believe that players will likely have the chance to attend in person and see the action as it happens, at least at some of the events. To enter the events themselves, players will need to be a legal resident of one of the 60-plus countries that are participating, be the correct age, meet PC requirements for the game, and meet all other eligibility requirements in the official rules.

You can find the full list of countries that will be eligible for participating in the Global Series below and get ready for all of the action to begin very soon.