CPL Announces $1,000,000 World Tour

The Cyberathlete Professional League has announced the formation of a World Tour, the largest event yet produced by the video game sporting league. Beginning with an event in Istanbul, Turkey on February 10th, the CPL World Tour will last until November, with stops in Spain, Brazil, Germany, the U.S., the U.K., Sweden, China, and Chile. However, no stops in Japan or Korea, two important centers of gaming, have been announced. The last event on the tour will be a $500,000 Grand Final, and the overall pot for the World Tour is $1 million USD. The tour's primary sponsor will be Intel, who will supply all processors for computers used in the 10-month tournament. Nvidia, a graphics card manufacturer, and CompUSA, a consumer electronics retailer, have also signed on board as sponsors. No mention of an Dreamcatcher sponsorship was made, but the tournament does revolve around Painkiller, one of the Toronto, Canada-based publisher's games, although "other professional tournaments yet to be announced" will also feature on the tour. In addition to playing games, cyberathletes who join the tour will participate in "cultural journeys" in each country, in order to promote bonding between the various nationalities of players. Smaller competitions will also be planned for each stop, as well as "workshops" to train players interested in becoming full-fledged professional cyberathletes. "Our plan is to work with the competitors, sponsors and industry to bring real structure and consistency; provide better context and meaning to the sport and create the definitive world tour while growing the sport and its stars," said CPL President Angel Munoz.