Another football World Cup starts this week... for the game FIFA 18

With 20 million hopeful players, FIFA 18 is one of the leading esports on consoles

Video gaming

Esther Pang

Published: 7:22pm, 1 Aug 2018

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This article originally appeared on ABACUS

If you’re frustrated with how the World Cup went, or you’re craving more football, another World Cup is taking place in London starting this Thursday.

More specifically, the FIFA eWorld Cup Grand Final is happening in the O2 Arena.

32 players from around the world made it through the grueling qualifying rounds against millions of competitors to compete for a US$250,000 prize. These players have been battling since November for that coveted spot in the finals.

Among them is last year’s winner Spencer “Gorilla” Ealing from England and 2014 champion August “Agge” Rosenmeier from Denmark. There are also some veterans of the game, including Ivan “Boras” Lapanje from Sweden, who’s been playing since he was 6 years old.

At the Grand Final, the 32 players are split into four groups:

Two groups will be playing on Xbox One and two will be playing on PlayStation 4.

Then finally, the best Xbox player will face the best PlayStation player in a showdown of cross-console skill. They will have to first compete on PlayStation, then on Xbox to prove who truly is the FIFA 18 champion (and silencing any doubters in the console wars -- lol what am I saying, that war will never end.)

Xbox or PlayStation: Who will be the true FIFA 18 champion? (Picture: EA Sports)

FIFA eWorld Cup (formerly known as FIFA Interactive World Cup) has been around for almost 15 years now -- and it’s seeing a surge in popularity in recent years as the esports scene booms.

In a recent report Newzoo shows how, while console esports are gaining tons of viewers, the competitive scene is still dominated by games played on the PC.

Call of Duty: WWII leads the pack for console competitive games -- but FIFA 18 is not far behind. It was also one of the top 10 most watched games on Twitch by esport hours in April, thanks to the FUT Champions Cup #2 in Manchester.

It’s little surprise that virtual football is once again gaining traction in the world of competitive gaming. The FIFA series itself has been a popular game for years -- and it translates easily into an esport. Some esports are confusing to watch if you don’t play games, but as it’s based on the world’s most popular sport, FIFA 18 doesn’t have that problem.

For those who like their virtual football as much as their IRL football, stay tune for the ultimate competitive action on Twitch from August 2-4.

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