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Leading esports tournament organiser and media company LetsPlay.Live has announced ‘LPL Pathfinder’, a renewed direction for 2024 focusing on supporting grassroots tournaments and providing a faster route to professional competition.

Described as “a dramatic change” in the format of esports leagues at LetsPlay.Live (LPL), company founder and Chief Executive, Duane Mutu advised “we have been working closely with our community in developing LPL Pathfinder.

“We asked for brutally honest feedback on what areas of the business we need to better support, and the overwhelming consensus was that grassroots needed more love.

“Pathfinder is not only a new format for LPL, but it is also a commitment to our players with better visibility over what they can expect from LPL in 2024. By providing a roadmap, they are able to better plan their time investment, develop their roster, acquire new players and feel confident that their commitment to play will be rewarded.” 

Mutu describes 2023 as having been a huge year for LPL.

With the support of publishers across the globe, the company was able to deliver several large-scale events like the VALORANT Challengers Oceania, PUBG Challenger Rumble Season 2, Clash Royale Asia-Pacific Tour and the Clash Royale World Tour.

However, while these tournaments were popular with the majority of the LPL community, feedback gathered suggested that players also wanted consistent, regular opportunities to play with their friends and teammates as well. Pathfinder - a new ‘Pathway to Pro’ - is designed to deliver on exactly that.

LPL Pathfinder marks a number of major changes to the structure of divisions at LPL and is also the first time the company has committed to a roadmap of events for a year in advance.  In previous years, LPL tournaments have been comprised of a free-to-play Open division and four subscription divisions which were known as Amateur, Evolution, Challenger and Pro. Under LPL Pathfinder, this has been changed. 

The Free-to-play Open division remains intact, but the number of subscription divisions has been reduced to three and renamed to Bronze, Silver and Gold. The new divisions are more universally understood, especially for newer players, with clearer naming conventions to remove any confusion about how the tiers of progression work. Pro Players will now be in the Gold division, Challenger players will play in Silver and prior Evolution and Amateur players will play in Bronze.

In addition, the Pathway to Pro has been improved with the introduction of Wildcard Qualifiers during all promotions and relegations cycles.  Previously, it would take upward of a year for a new player to progress from Amateur to Pro.  By introducing Wildcard Qualifiers, it gives any team, no matter the division, a chance to play against the best-of-the-best and possibly secure a higher division tournament spot.

Under LPL Pathfinder there will be three seasons for Shooter titles (CS2, Rainbow Six Siege, Valorant) kicking off with open qualifiers starting on January 20th and five seasons for Battle Royale titles (PUBG, PUBG Mobile, Apex Legends) due to start on March 1st. In addition, LPL will continue to work with publishers to provide more large-scale events which will be announced in the coming months. Finally, LPL will also be working with the New Zealand Esports Federation to bring a rotating roster of titles exclusive to New Zealand players.

LetsPlay.Live caters to gamers of all skill from grassroots open tournaments through to professional broadcast matches with a pathway for new players to hone their skills against their peers across APAC.

Lower image: The Pathfinder 2024 roadmap.

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