Monday 10 October 2016 14:54, UK
The annual Call Of Duty Championships was hosted in LA over the weekend at Activision's own event - CoD XP - where it revealed the multiplayer side of the latest version of the game, due out later this year.
Alongside many other events that happened at CoD XP - which acts as a celebration of all things Call Of Duty for fans and industry professionals alike - Activision also hosted the Call Of Duty Championship, the grand finals of the World League that had been playing out over the course of months earlier this year.
There were many contenders for the title, from the likes of OpTic Gaming, FaZe Clan, Cloud9 and Splyce, from the UK - the latter being Europe's best hope for glory.
Many of the top teams failed to translate their reputation into results, some being knocked out early on in the tournament's initial rounds. Especially surprising was tournament favourites OpTic Gaming's early elimination.
Most interesting was the appearance of Fab Games, a German-based e-Sports team, who were a relatively unknown quantity in the world of Call Of Duty e-Sports.
It was Fab Games who managed to knock many of the strongest teams - such as OpTic Gaming - into the Losers Bracket.
It was up against Team eLevate that Fab Games would eventually stumble, first being knocked into the Losers Bracket and then out of the tournament by Splyce. It was the UK-team that would go on to compete in the grand finals against Team EnVyUs.
The semi-finals took place with Team eLevate against Team EnVyUs. It was an extremely close game with no clear winner from the start, until EnVyUs managed to claim the fifth and final match in the best-of-five series, knocking eLevate out into the Losers Bracket where it was to face Splyce.
This, too, was a tense match, but Splyce continued its run of form, defeating eLevate, earning their progression as the winners of the Losers Bracket, and a place in the grand finals against EnVyUs.
It was an exciting match-up, but it was especially nail-biting for European e-Sports fans who had found themselves backing the underdogs Splyce due to the potential history they could have made.
Since its inauguration, no European team has taken the trophy at the Call Of Duty Championship, and with Splyce's recent confident performances it seemed, for many, that this could finally be the chance.
That was not to be, however. Though the team managed to win the first of the best-of-five series of matches, it failed to grasp a hold during any of the following three matches and ultimately led to a three-game win streak by EnVyUs that saw the European hopefuls knocked out of the tournament at the final stage.
To have earned second place is no doubt a bittersweet achievement for Splyce, especially after Team EnVyUs - who had dominated many of its matches through the year and particularly during the Championships - took away $800,000 in prize money.
For a full rundown of the tournament, the best teams and the many shocks and upsets of the event, take a look at Ginx eSports TV's Call Of Duty Championships round-up.
