The Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) was a professional sports tournament organization specializing in computer and console video game competitions. It was founded by Angel Munoz on June 27, 1997, in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...

. The CPL is considered the pioneer in professional video game tournaments, which have been held worldwide. The CPL's tournaments are open to all registrants, but due to the

ESRB The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is a self-regulatory organization that assigns age and content ratings to consumer video games in the United States and Canada. The ESRB was established in 1994 by the Entertainment Software Asso ...

content rating of some video games, CPL competitions are restricted to participants age 17 or older. The CPL has distributed more than US$3 million in cash prizes. In 2005, the CPL moved to a World Tour format. The 2005 CPL World Tour focused on the one-on-one deathmatch game ''

Painkiller An analgesic drug, also called simply an analgesic (American English), analgaesic (British English), pain reliever, or painkiller, is any member of the group of drugs used to achieve relief from pain (that is, analgesia or pain management). It i ...

'', and had a total prize purse of $1 million. The winner of the CPL Grand Finals event, Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel, went home with the grand prize of $150,000, while

Sander "Vo0" Kaasjager Sander Kaasjager (; born 21 June 1985), who plays under the pseudonym Vo0 (pronunciation: ), is a Dutch professional player of the first-person shooter games ''Painkiller'', ''Quake II'', '' Quake III '', ''Quake 4'', ''Quake Live'' and '' Quak ...

took home the MVP trophy for having the most tournament wins. In March 2008, the CPL ceased operations, citing a "crowded field of competing leagues". On August 25, 2008, the CPL announced that it had signed an acquisition agreement with an investment group based in

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...

, United Arab Emirates. On August 23, 2010, the former parent company of the CPL, announced that the two-year acquisition process of the CPL was finalized, and that the sole owner of the CPL (and its subsidiaries) was now WoLong Ventures PTE of

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. Following this acquisition, the CPL has hosted annual competitions in China, in collaboration with the municipal government of

Shenyang Shenyang (, ; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly known as Fengtian () or by its Manchu language, Manchu name Mukden, is a major China, Chinese sub-provincial city and the List of capitals in China#Province capitals, provincial capital of Lia ...

Events

2007 and 2010s

2006

The 2006 CPL World Season was a series of electronic sports competitions organized by the CPL in the fall of 2006. It was a follow up of the 2005 CPL World Tour and was announced by the CPL on July 31, 2006. The tour featured two games, ''

Counter-Strike ''Counter-Strike'' (''CS'') is a series of multiplayer tactical first-person shooter video games in which teams of terrorists battle to perpetrate an act of terror (bombing, hostage-taking, assassination) while counter-terrorists try to preven ...

'' and ''

Quake 3 ''Quake III Arena'' is a 1999 multiplayer-focused first-person shooter developed by id Software. The third installment of the ''Quake'' series, ''Arena'' differs from previous games by excluding a story-based single-player mode and focusing prima ...

''. After a total of 7 qualifier events, the finals were held on 16–20 December 2006 at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Dallas, Texas. The championship finals had a total prize purse of $150,000 and were won by ORG: Team:

fnatic Fnatic (pronounced "fanatic"; also stylized as fnatic or FNATIC) is a professional esports organization headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Founded 23 July 2004, the team has players from around the world, across a variety of games, such ...

(Counter-Strike) and Paul "czm" Nelson (Quake 3).

2005

At the 2004 Cyberathlete Extreme Summer Championships, the CPL announced details on its largest event ever, the CPL World Tour. This event took place throughout 2005, with a total of 10 international stops, and a finals event held in New York City, televised by

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

2004

Past CPL World Champions

Individual competitions

* 2006 - USA - Paul "czm" Nelson - ''

Quake III ''Quake III Arena'' is a 1999 multiplayer-focused first-person shooter developed by id Software. The third installment of the ''Quake'' series, ''Arena'' differs from previous games by excluding a story-based single-player mode and focusing prima ...

'' * 2005 - USA - Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel - ''

'' * 2004 - The Netherlands -

- ''Painkiller'' * 2003 - Norway - Chris "kJer" Lujan - ''Painkiller'' * 2002 - USA - Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel - ''

Unreal Tournament 2003 ''Unreal Tournament 2003'' is a first-person arena shooter video game developed by Epic Games and Digital Extremes, and published by Infogrames under the Atari brand name. The game is part of the ''Unreal'' franchise, and is a sequel to 1999's ...

'' * 2001 - USA - Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel - '' Alien versus Predator 2'' * 2001 - Australia - Harley "HarlsoM" Grey - ''

Quakeworld ''Quake'' is a first-person shooter game developed by id Software and published by GT Interactive. The first game in the Quake (series), ''Quake'' series, it was originally released for MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows and Linux in 1996, followed by ...

'' * 2000 - USA - Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel - ''Quake III'' * 1999 - USA - Mark "wombat" Larsen - ''Quake III'' * 1998 - USA - Dan "Rix" Hammans - ''

Quake II ''Quake II'' is a 1997 first-person shooter video game developed by id Software and published by Activision. It is the second installment of the ''Quake'' series, but not a direct sequel to '' Quake''. The game's storyline is continued in its ...

'' * 1997 - USA - Tom "gollum" Dawson - '' Quake''

Team competitions

* 2007: USA - Pandemic - '' Counter-Strike Source'' * 2006: Sweden -

- ''

'' * 2005: Sweden -

SK Gaming SK Gaming is a professional esports organization based in Germany that has teams across the world competing in different titles. SK is particularly known for their success in '' Counter-Strike'' (CS) tournaments. SK's Brazilian ''CS'' team wo ...

- ''Counter-Strike'' * 2004 - Unattached -

Team NoA MTw, formerly known as Team NoA, was a professional ''Counter-Strike'' team. Founded by Jonas "bsl" Alsaker, the team was regarded as the world's best several times, taking home many prestigious "trophies" (or at least victories). They were the ...

- ''Counter-Strike'' * 2003 - Sweden - SK Gaming - ''Counter-Strike'' * 2002 - USA -

Team3D Team 3D was an American esports organization that formerly had teams competing in '' Counter-Strike: Source'', ''Warcraft 3'', '' Dead or Alive 4'', ''Halo 2'', ''Painkiller'', and ''Call of Duty''. Team 3D was one of the most successful North ...

- ''Counter-Strike'' * 2001 - Sweden -

Ninjas in Pyjamas Ninjas in Pyjamas (NIP) is a professional esports organisation based in Sweden that is best known for its '' Counter-Strike'' teams. In 2012, the team reformed with a '' Counter Strike: Global Offensive'' lineup upon the release of the game. As ...

- ''Counter-Strike'' * 2000 - Sweden - e9 - ''Counter-Strike''

Cyberathlete Amateur League

The CPL also owned and operated an online video game league for

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

players and teams, named the Cyberathlete Amateur League or CAL. CAL operated year-round, with regular eight-week seasons, one or two matches per week, and a single-elimination postseason (playoffs). On November 14, 2008, the newly formed CPL Holding Group, LLC from

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

announced that it had acquired CAL. On February 22, 2009, CAL ceased online operations. At its peak CAL was one of the largest online gaming leagues in North America with 20,000 teams and over 600,000 registered players. The CAL is based mainly on online game play. A 2003 competition hosted by CAL was played in a

Hyatt Hyatt Hotels Corporation, commonly known as Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, is an American multinational hospitality company headquartered in the Riverside Plaza area of Chicago that manages and franchises luxury and business hotels, resorts, and vacat ...

Regency Ballroom. Several tables were placed together where 10 computers were set up for the professional gamers. The game was Half-Life: Counterstrike. The CAL ceased operating in 2009.

CPL divisions

In mid-2006, the CPL together with its international partners announced a series of licensed divisions to bring worldwide the experience of the CPL events. * Singapore: Edge of Reality * China: Media Gaming Live Pte Ltd * Australia: Ping Events Australia EH? (James Duffy's "Puffing Duffy's Pro's") * Chile: ALM Ingenieria (LAN-Z) S.A. * Brazil: Made in Brazil Esportes Eletrônicos (MiBR) Ltda * South Korea: International e-Sports Group, Inc (IEG) * Sweden: E-Sport Entertainment Group AB (EEG) * Romania: E-Sport Entertainment, Inc (OSIM) * Italy: A.S. Play.it (ASPI)

Possible fraud leak

On April 2, 2010, a former CGS employee Tonya Welch, released information about an alleged "''fraud scheme''" by which the new buyers of the CPL had made fictitious statements to the general public and to the previous owner of the CPL. She claimed that the investors were not from Abu Dhabi, as had been announced, but that the purchase was actually conducted by a private group of US investors. Despite the allegations the acquisition was ultimately completed by WoLong Ventures of Singapore.

References

External links

* {{authority control Video game organizations Sports leagues established in 1997 Sports leagues disestablished in 2008 Sports leagues established in 2008 1997 establishments in Texas Privately held companies of Singapore