The Cyberathlete Professional League, grandfather of professional gaming, is allegedly closing its doors, bringing an end to an 11-year long saga. No timeline has been given, but staff layoffs have already begun according to CAL Warcraft 3 operations manager Martijn Bloemheuvel.
[Update: The post has since been removed, however, you can see a full screenshot of the post below after the jump.]
Bloemheuvel confirmed that Chris Moncivalles, longtime commissioner of the Cyberathlete Amateur League and CPL, was the first to go. He also stated that he will attempt to call into Epileptic Gaming’s Faces for Radio show at 8PM ET Tuesday, Feb. 12 to go over the situation with hosts Marcus “djWHEAT” Graham and Robert Summa.
Moncivalles and Angel Munoz, founder and president of the CPL, refused comment. However, Moncivalles no longer appears on the CPL Staff list (compare to Google’s cached version).
News of the shutdown follows a rumored buyout of the CPL by Play&Trade, which has since fallen through. As part of the deal, Angel Munoz, founder and president of the league, was to join the Play&Trade organization, but reportedly refused to move himself and his family across the country. Continued…
By Wang “GGL-archEr” Qiang, Chief Editor, China GGL
Translated by Victor “GGL-zhouyao” Zhou, English Editor
December 23rd, the day before Christmas Eve, is the day that the Cyberathlete Professional League said farewell to us all. Even the results were disappointing; unknown American clan x3o was the champion. The locale, the Hyatt Regency in Dallas, shrouded in wintry cold, lent to a scene that was depressing for gamers.
CPL Winter, a famous event that once attracted almost every videogame player’s heart, became disappointing E-Sports banquet but without its original flavor. Angel Munoz, the founder of CPL, once a high-spirited, vigorous and smart businessman, has now reaped as he has sown. He abandoned both players and the public; once believing that he had the key to the e-sports market, he is now abandoned by that market. Without the G7 teams, formerly attractive competitions lost their glamour as well as their fans. If he continues to lose his way, the CPL brand will be totally forgotten. Continued…
The 2007 CPL World Tour for F.E.A.R. and World in Conflict will finish… two months into 2008. The CPL has announced the addition of a new stop in London and the finals in the same place.
So far, only three tournaments took place as a part of the World Tour. CPL Italy, CPL Sweden and CPL Summer. Another two, CPL Brazil and CPL Australia got canceled. Until recently, little was known of whether the circuit would actually be continued. Continued…
In a small house cleaning note, all you Xbox 360 RTS fans should know that World in Conflict is getting hit with a delay for the console. Sierra has announced that the already-available PC game will not be seeing the light of day for the 360 until 2008. We’re not sure when next year, just that it’s coming sometime during the new year. For now, you’ll just have to get your WiC fix on the PC. Oh well.
Sierra and GameStop have teamed up to bring you a nationwide (USA) 5v5 World in Conflict tournament, with some sweet prizes on the line.
Before you get to the finals, though, you’ll have to get the game on Sept. 18 and battle through the competition online. Visit www.gamestop.com/worldinconflict to pre-register.
Two teams will rise to the top and be flown to Los Angeles to compete at GameStop’s Universal CityWalk. Continued…
Over the weekend, the CPL held its annual summer event with World in Conflict and F.E.A.R tournaments. While that may not make the news elsewhere, Angel Munoz and crew also announced that the the CPL Winter event will have a $50,000 Halo 3 tournament and a $50,000 Counter-Strike: Source tournament.
Due to booking issues at the Hyatt Regency, the CPL opened a vote on its website to allow attendees to pick the date of the event.
You can vote to hold the event Dec. 18-22 or Dec. 12-16.
Pick a date range and vote in the CPL forums.
Read: Vote for the dates of the CPL Winter Event.
The World in Conflict demo is now out, as previously announced. It includes singleplayer as well as multiplayer missions and weighs in at 1.2GB.
Here’s a small list of mirrors:
AusGamers
FanGaming
FileShack
Gamer’s Hell
Internode Games Network
Sierra today announced that a demo of World in Conflict will come out this Friday, Aug. 24, just in time for the Leipzig Games Convention and Penny Arcade Expo.
With 16 player multiplayer on the map “Seaside,” bot play, one mission from the Single Player campaign, and clan match support, this should pack a wallop for your weekend.
Remember, the full game comes out Sept. 18 and the collector’s edition contains a piece of the Berlin wall.
Sierra dropped the bomb today, announcing that the highly anticipated World in Conflict has gone gold.
The PC version of the game will be on store shelves Sept. 18. The Xbox 360 version, meanwhile, is still set to launch sometime in 2007.
World In Conflict PC comes in two versions: a standard $49.99 version and a $59.99 collector’s edition that comes with a piece of the Berlin Wall (!!!!!) and a History Channel DVD. In the alternate history of WIC, the Cold War never ended, so that explains the pack-ins. Continued…
