Daybreak Games recently announced that H1Z1: King of the Kill will be making its big network TV debut on the CW. The channel known for its multiple superhero TV series like The Flash, Arrow and Supergirl, will air a tournament for the multiplayer shooter game. Other partnerships associated with this are former NBA player Rick Fox’s eSports team, Echo Fox and Ben Silverman’s production company, Propagate. They will help to produce a multi-platform documentary series.
Prepare to Fight for the Crown
H1Z1: Fight for the Crown is the title of an unscripted five part series to be shown digitally on the CW Seed. The series focuses on the members of Echo Fox and their training and preparation for the King of the Kill tournament. Echo Fox has had a long time tie to King of the Kill. The team won the first place prize of $40,000 at last year’s invitational held at TwitchCon.
The stakes will be high during the Fight for the Crown tournament. It will feature Echo Fox competing against 14 other teams of 5, totalling 75 players, to split a prize pool of $300,000. The event will be sponsored by Asus, Republic of Gamers, Vertagear and the tournament itself. Mark your calendars, the tournament is set to be televised on April 20th. It will also be filmed in front of a live studio audience in downtown Los Angeles.
H1Z1 & Mortal Kombat: Chasing the Cup
H1Z1 forces players into combat with one another while they seek for weapons, armor and other supplies to survive and fight. This tournament also marks the debut of H1Z1: King of the Kill’s 5 player team mode in an eSports tournament setting. Other channels like TBS and ESPN have previously aired eSports tournaments, but CW is the first broadcast network to show an interest in eSports and is proud in doing so.
The network has a high appeal with the younger demographic and that could boost the game’s sales significantly. However, CW is not new to televising gaming tournaments. In the past they have televised a similar tournament, Mortal Kombat: Chasing the Cup for the fighting game Mortal Kombat X.
How the Broadcast Deal Went Down
When CW first announced they would be televising this tournament, no one knew what to expect. We, along with everyone else, are wondering how this deal happened. The executive producer of the game, Chris Wynn, has explained the story behind the surprising partnership.
The deal happened because of Daybreak’s relations with Echo Fox and its creative spin on the usual PVP tournament structure. Wynn stated, “We have a unique opportunity to do something with King of the Kill that no one else can do and that’s putting on a tournament with 15 teams of 5 players each all competing at the same time. It’s not a ladder-style knockout like in traditional sports. All these guys will get into one game, in one match and all compete simultaneously. This unique experience is what appealed to the different partners.”
Late last year, H1Z1 peaked in popularity with the eSports and Twitch communities and has been gradually rising ever since.
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