Game developer Thirdverse announced Thursday that it plans to host a collegiate esports tournament in Japan during the Tokyo Game Show (TGS) later this year using its VR multiplayer hero shooter, X8. Beginning in September, the X8 University Invitational Tournament will feature 10 X8 teams from universities throughout Japan, with the final tournament being hosted at the Tokyo Game Show on Sept. 24.
In case you aren’t familiar with the game, it is described by its developers as a “VR multiplayer hero shooter where various heroes from different shooting game worlds gather across time and space to battle using incredible abilities.” The game is supported by Meta and Steam and was released as an “early access” title in May..
Teams confirmed for competition include the University of Tokyo (UTes), Waseda University, Osaka Metropolitan University (OMU-GAMING), Nagoya University (Disboard), University of Tsukuba (FiO), Otemon Gakuin University (EOS), Kanazawa University (KUeST), Tokyo University of Technology (A2Z), Nagaoka Institute of Technology (NUTe), and Nihon University (Nihon Penguins).
The competition will be hosted at the Computer Entertainment Supplier’s Association (CESA) booth during TGS and the game will be playable on the show floor for attendees. Thirdverse did not disclose details on prizing.
PICO, a subsidiary of short-form video platform ByteDance, is also serving as the presenting sponsor. The tournament format will be 5v5, and Thirdverse said in a release that it will provide five PICO 4 devices free of charge to each participating team.
