World of Tanks rolls into professional eSports

Wargaming has joined the ever popular competitive gaming sector by establishing a professional World of Tanks eSports league.

The Wargaming.net league is scheduled to launch in the first quarter of this year, and will feature regular regional tournaments and playoffs leading up to a Grand Finals.

Those 2013 competition will offer a prize pool of $2.5 million.

"The scale and popularity of competitive gaming has been skyrocketing over the last couple of years, and we have now reached the point where we can focus significant effort on advancing World of Tanks on to the global eSports scene," said Wargaming Global eSports Director Jonghyuk Baak.

"Wargaming.net League is a groundbreaking step in our quest to bring the game’s eSports potential into the international spotlight."

Wargaming VP of global operations added: "Running our own eSports league allows us to truly focus on making World of Tanks not only a compelling and challenging eSports discipline, but also one that’s incredibly entertaining for spectators.

"Now we have a sustainable tool to broaden our global eSports involvement in an unprecedented way: stimulate the growth of the competitive community, organise bigger and better tournaments with larger prize pools than ever, and provide our best pro gamers with completely viable career opportunities."

MMO World of Tanks debuted in the eSports arena at the World Cyber Games Grand Finals last year, which took place in Kunshan, China.