In a surprise move today, Games Media Properties announced the cancellation of the World Series of Video Games. Therefore, the remainder of the 2007 season has been cancelled too, which were set to take place in Los Angeles (October 18-21) and London (November 16-18) and finish in Sweden (November 29-December 2).
The reason seems to be financial-related. The press release stated, "However, the continuing challenges of securing adequate revenues to sustain the production of the WSVG’s large scale events and television programming, in a very crowded field of competitive gaming leagues, has prompted us to re-evaluate our direction as an organization."
The World Series of Video Games started in 2006 with competitions in six games and six events held around the world. The total prize was $750,000 USD. For the 2007 season, the games featured were Fight Night Round 3, Guitar Hero II, Quake 4 and World of Warcraft. Other games like Counter-Strike, Warcraft III, Call of Duty 2 and Gears of War were featured at certain competitions too.
When The World Series of Video Games started, it seemed to be the big push into the mainstream limelight that gaming needed. Even though the competition got huge press, it looks like the money wasn’t there. What a shame.
