CD Projekt Red, the studio behind The Witcher games, has announced a tournament for their upcoming title Gwent: The Witcher Card Game, in collaboration with ESL.
This tournament will see four of the community's best players face off against professional gamers Jeffrey "Trump" Shih, Adrian "Lifecoach" Koy, Kacem "Noxious" Khilaji, and Peter "ppd" Drager, three of which have played Blizzard's card game Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft professionally, ppd being the only player who hasn't, instead playing Dota 2. These players will compete with the best of the community for $100,000 USD in prize money, with first place receiving $60,000, second place $20,000, and third place $10,000.
"It's a real privilege to observe how active Gwent players are in the realm of competitive gaming," commented Paweł Burza, Community Manager at CD Projekt Red. "Community-powered tournaments like The Passiflora Championship, The Seven Cats Brawl or The Gwentlemen's Open are a source of inspiration for the entire team, and we definitely want this part of Gwent to grow."
"GWENT: The Witcher Card Game was created because The Witcher community wanted it. Now we're seeing more and more gamers wanting to play GWENT competitively, so here we are with a chance to play against some heavy-hitters, and a prize pool to spice things up," added CD Projekt Red co-founder Marcin Iwiński. "I can't wait to see who wins!"
Registrations and rules for the qualifiers an be found here, with registration closing on March 22. Here you can also find the tournament roadmap, and an FAQ as well.
Can Gwent compete as an esport against Blizzard's Hearthstone?