AD Gaming, the Abu Dhabi government initiative to make the emirate into a global gaming hub, has partnered with Blast to bring its global esports tournament – the Blast Premier World Final – to the emirate for the first time.
The global gaming event will run from December 14 to 18 at the Etihad Arena on Yas Island.
It will feature eight of the world’s best esports organisations competing to claim a slice of the $1 million prize pool and a chance to claim bragging rights as the champions of Counter-Strike in 2022.
This year’s event in Abu Dhabi will be part of a three-year tie-up between AD Gaming and Blast, WAM reported.
The World Final will be the seventh and last event of the Blast Premier tournament series and is the culmination of the 2022 global CS:GO (Counter-Strike: Global Offensive) calendar.
Split across two seasons, Blast Premier offers a place in the World Final for teams who triumph in the Spring and Fall seasons, as well as the top four teams on the ‘Race to the World Final Leaderboard’.
The line-up will be completed with the winners of ESL Season 16 and the ESL Rio Major.
FaZe Clan was the first team to book their ticket to Abu Dhabi after triumphing in the ESL Pro League Season 15 and winning the PGL Antwerp Major, while NAVI were the latest to qualify having won the Spring Final in Lisbon last week.
With the UAE capital named as the new host city, the announcement aligns with Blast’s ongoing commitment to reaching new audiences and delivering incredible esports experiences in state-of-the-art arenas for both teams and spectators.
Charlotte Kenny, managing director of Blast Premier, said, “As part of our host cities process, we are always on the lookout for leading locations and arenas all around the world, Abu Dhabi is the perfect location to follow on from this month’s highly successful Spring Final in Lisbon and November’s Fall Final in Copenhagen.”
The World Final will follow in the footsteps of popular sports such as UFC, F1 and NBA in hosting major events in Abu Dhabi and the remarkable Etihad Arena provides the perfect stage for our World Final event, he said.
The event aligns with AD Gaming’s wider strategy and commitment to aggregate Abu Dhabi’s drive to build a thriving gaming and esports ecosystem, and continue to promote the city as a global gaming hub.
Since established in 2021, AD Gaming has brought over 30 game developers into the capital, providing them world class industry support to fuel their success stories from the Emirate, while generating countless opportunities for local and international talent.
James Hartt, director of strategic partnerships at Abu Dhabi Gaming, said Blast is truly a world leader in the esports industry, so their commitment to Abu Dhabi perfectly demonstrated the scale and impact of the Emirate’s growing gaming and esports sector – both in terms of the industry and the player community.
“Through the incredibly exciting CS:GO World Final, this latest partnership augments Abu Dhabi’s status as a global centre for the creative industries and will drive the long-term development of this strategically important sector,” he added.
Follow us on
