THE SMITE WORLD CUP: AN ESPORTS TIMELINE
Following the positive reception of the inaugural 2016 Overwatch World Cup, Hi-Rez Studios [1] decides to create their own such tournament with their most popular game, SMITE, in an attempt to emulate that success. This was announced on 8 January 2017, at the SMITE World Championship in Atlanta, Georgia, as was the format. Sixteen countries would participate, being divided into four groups of four with the winner and runner-up of each group advancing to the quarter-finals. Hosts United States qualifying automatically and being placed in position A1 of the group stage. The remaining 15 countries had to secure their spot through qualification. For a country to be eligible to participate in qualification for the World Cup, it needed to have at least one person have played in the Pro League [2] or top four of the Challenger Cup in the 2016 season, and submit a full squad to Hi-Rez Studios no later than 23 January 2017.
Eligible countries listed in alphabetical order.
Based on geography and the number of available countries per continent, and to more easily organize qualifications, Hi-Rez Studios divided the world into the following regions: Europe [3], Asia [4], and America [5]. Hi-Rez took the same thing into account, including the general SMITE prowess of regions, when allocating slots for the World Cup: Eight teams from Europe, five from America [6], and three from Asia. The strength of countries was dependant on its player earnings in the 2016 season, only counting money won at official tournaments, not salaries. Additionally, this is was used when it came to ranking countries for draws. This was criticized for "inflating the strength of countries with just one or two good players" and countries "competing and performing well in weaker regions where it's easier to win money". However, in the absence of other viable ranking options, the system was widely accepted.
Teams seeded ahead of the draw for the European qualifying groups.
Stay tuned for part two and the start of the World Cup qualification!
Footnotes
[1] Name later changed to Titan Forge.
[2] Includes any Hi-Rez-sanctioned event.
[3] Despite not being in Europe, Israel competed in those qualifiers.
[4] Including Oceania.
[5] Including South America.
[6] Including the United States, who qualify automatically as hosts.