FACEIT Tapped for 2024 Call of Duty Challengers

The ESL FACEIT Group (EFG) has been selected to host the 2024 Call of Duty Challengers and Elite Qualifiers, marking a significant shift in the operational infrastructure for the competitive Call of Duty ecosystem. The partnership, announced in January 2024, designates the FACEIT platform as the primary hub for these grassroots tournaments, with the season commencing on January 20, 2024. Financial details regarding the agreement remain undisclosed.

The integration of the FACEIT platform for these events is limited in scope compared to other titles supported by the service. Because the platform lacks deep, native integration with the Call of Duty game client, tournament operations will be conducted manually. Consequently, the standard automated anti-cheat features typically associated with the FACEIT platform will not be available; instead, oversight and integrity monitoring will be managed directly by a dedicated tournament operations team. Participants are required to register and link their Activision IDs to their FACEIT accounts to compete.

This development highlights the ongoing expansion of EFG, which is owned by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund’s Savvy Games Group. The move follows industry speculation regarding potential collaborations between Activision Blizzard and EFG for other properties, including the Overwatch competitive circuit. By centralizing the Challengers qualifiers on the FACEIT platform, the organizers aim to streamline the registration and participation process for the 2024 season, despite the technical limitations of the current implementation.