Developer Bulkhead Interactive announced earlier today that it is setting aside $650,000 for the esports funding of Battalion 1944. The news comes from the developers along with the upcoming roadmap for the game over the next twelve months, which indicates additional funding for esports down the road.

The major tournaments for Battalion 1944 will include the FaceIt Pro Series, multiple region qualifiers, and its recently launched Blitzkrieg Premier and Open League. In a recent post on Steam, the developers stated that they were serious about growing the game in the coming years into a competitive shooter. Considering that the announcement comes on the same day as the massive conclusion of World Cup for Fortnite, it is easy to see why one would want to get into the esports scene.

The announcement timing may be coincidental, but mere hours ago the first world champion was crowned in Fortnite in a packed stadium of cheering fans, taking home a whopping $3 million in prize money for himself, while the entire pool consisted of $30 million.

Esports in general are growing rapidly from year to year, as we here at TheGamer presented recently. The current revenue projections for esports worldwide is over $1 billion for 2019, and there is no reason to believe it will go anywhere but up in the foreseeable future.

In addition, there has also been considerable chatter that esports could be considered an Olympic sport by as early as 2024 in Paris. The discussion on that matter is only in the earliest of stages, but that fact that such talks are happening is something that no one would have believe twenty, or possibly even ten years ago.

It will be interesting to see how Battalion 1944 does in its venture into the esports scene. Fortnite is wildly popular, and yet also highly criticized for its rapid shift in meta and the changes introduced to the game. Obviously, that did not bother many people today at the World Cup, but experts on the subject speculate about the long-term viability of the game as an esport.

With that in mind, Battalion 1944 could look to compete by ensuring its competitive modes are polished, balanced, and entertaining. Those three points are often what is needed for esports to become successful in a given game. Apex Legends charged into the Battle Royale scene not so long ago, but its early issues with some of those points have all but eliminated it from being a serious threat to games like Fortnite.

Perhaps Battalion 1944 can step up as a competitor, but for now we will have to wait and see how successful it is in its initial endeavor.

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