The Global Esports Federation (GEF) has unveiled details on its inaugural running of the Global Esports Tour, naming event organizer and tournament platform FACEIT as a strategic partner.

The Global Esports Tour will be held across Hearthstone, PUBG: Mobile, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, with three tournaments taking place in Los Angeles, Riyadh, and Dubai. Participating players will compete for a share of $500,000 (~£360,880) in prize money that will be split across the three events.

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At the moment, Esports has courted broad attention and participation. That’s because the esports sector has grown exponentially over the last decade and now packs an enormous audience and figures.

Chester King, Vice President of the GEF and co-Chair of the Technical, Standards, and Properties Commission spoke on the announcement in a release: “The Global Esports Federation is proud to work with the team of experts at FACEIT to further develop our strategies for esports across the world. We look forward to staging the Global Esports Tour in great cities around the world.”

FACEIT teams up with the Federation to produce each of the three stages taking place as part of the Global Esports Tour that begins on September 27th and concludes two months later. Alongside the prize pool, the GEF will commit another $500,000 (~£360,880) to its Global Social Impact Initiatives which consists of a range of social initiatives ‘in service to the world’s esports community’, according to the release.

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Michele Attisani, co-Founder and Chief Business Officer of FACEIT, added: “It’s fantastic to be a part of the Global Esports Federation and to help build the first Global Esports Tour. FACEIT’s ambition is to build a better competitive gaming ecosystem with more opportunities for players and the community. We believe that hosting global competitions such as the GET is another step in the right direction.”

Esports viewership reached about 458.8 million people globally, a 15% increase year over year (Newzoo – 2019 Global Esports Market Report, 2019). The League of Legends World Championship in 2019 was an esports event with a record-breaking viewership of over 100 million. The majority of these fans accessed the game through streaming platforms such as Twitch and YouTube. By contrast, the Super Bowl drew 100.7 million viewers across the NFL’s digital platforms and CBS the same year. Statista estimates the global esports viewership size.