EA Reveals Details on Apex Legends Global Series Year 4

Pictured: ALGS Year 3 Champions TSM. Credit: EA

Electronic Arts announced Thursday the first details on Apex Legends Global Series (ALGS) Year 4. The next season of EA’s competitive season for Apex Legends esports will feature a total over prize pool of $5M USD, and features Pro League and Challenger Circuit competitions, and three major LAN events.  

EA also revealed that Year 3 had a few milestones; competition during the season saw a year-on-year (YoY) participation increase of 19% over the previous season, and a 22% YoY increase in total watch time (TWT), coming in at 47.9M hours, The average minute audience (AMA) of Year 3 clocked in at 130,383, an increase of 13% YoY. Finally, the TWT of ALGS videos grew to 2.6M on YouTube during the season—an 18% YoY increase.

EA said in its announcement that ALGS Year 4 will feature three in-person LAN events: the Split 1 Playoffs ($1M prize pool), the Split 2 Playoffs ($1M prize pool), and the year-end Championship ($2M prize pool), for a total prize pool of $4M across these three competitions.

Also new to Year 4 is the inclusion of players competing in China.  Two teams from China will be invited to participate in the Split 1 Playoffs, and depending on the performance of these teams, the Split 2 Playoffs will have anywhere from two and four teams invited from the region. After both of those Playoffs have concluded, the team from China with the most Playoff Points will automatically qualify for the Championship, and any other teams from the region that participated in Split 1 or Split 2 Playoffs that are in the Top 32 of the Playoff Points Leaderboard will also qualify to compete at the Championship. 

EA also announced some changes in Year 4 including the fact that South America will no longer be represented in the Pro League, but the region will still have the opportunity to qualify for all ALGS LAN events through the South America Challenger Circuit. At the conclusion of each Challenger Circuit split, the top 20 teams will compete in the SA Regional Finals, where the top two teams will qualify for the Playoffs. The SA Regional Finals will also award $62.5K (roughly $31,250 per split) in prizing. At the conclusion of the Split 2 Playoffs, the SA team with the most Playoff Points will qualify for the Championship.As with other regions, other SA teams can qualify for the Championship depending on their performance across both Playoffs events.

LAN events in Year 4 will see at least one team from NA, EMEA, APAC N, APAC S, SA, and China at each of the planned events. Distribution of slots will be as follows:

Split 1 Playoffs (40 Teams) – Regional Slot Distribution:

Two (2) invited teams from the People’s Republic of China; two (2) teams that qualify through the Split 1 Challenger Circuit in South America, 32 teams that qualify through the Split 1 Pro League Regular Season, including 12 teams from North America, and eight (8) teams each from the EMEA, APAC S, and APAC N regions. 

Split 2 Playoffs (40 Teams) – Regional Slot Distribution:

At least two (2) invited teams from the People’s Republic of China; at least two (2) teams that qualify through the Split 2 Challenger Circuit in South America; and 

up to 36 teams that qualify through their performance in the Split 2 Pro League Regular Season – at least 10 teams from North America and at least six (6) teams from the EMEA, APAC S, and APAC N regions.

Championship (40 Teams) – Regional Slot Distribution:

The top team in each region (six teams total) by Playoff Points; and the next 26 teams with the highest total Playoff Points across both the Split 1 and Split 2 Playoffs; and the top two (2) finishing teams in each region’s (NA, EMEA, APAC N, and APAC S) LCQ (eight teams total) will qualify

Eligibility requirements, regional prizing, official rules, dates (to be announced), and other information can be found at playapex.com/algs. Visitors can also register for the preseason qualifier, starting Oct. 23, at the aforementioned link.