- The BLAST Premier Fall Showdown returns to a live audience on November 23
- This marks the first live event in 20 months for the leading CS:GO event organizer
- The technology developed during the pandemic will help with the event's production value
The BLAST Premier Fall Showdown is back this November and will be played in front of a live crowd in Copenhagen.
Live Crowds Welcome Back to Fall Showdown
Esports fans may not need to play pretend much longer as BLAST Premier intends to hold an in-person event for the Fall Final, which will be held on November 23 and run through November 28.
Fall Final will be taking place at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen, which could pack up to 12,000 people, but social distancing rules will probably cut these numbers by at least half. Turnout is expected to be strong nevertheless.
However, there is a small caveat. The first two days will be held behind closed doors, followed by three days of live audience action that will be accessible to Counter-Strike fans that have bought tickets and traveled to the venue.
Effectively, BLAST is restarting live events or trying to, for the first time in 20 months in its own series, which were shifted online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Regardless, BLAST has been able to expand its offering significantly and include new regions, signaling the organization's strength in developing new entertainment products. In fact, the Fall Showdown is now shifting its focus on a more global scale.
BLAST Premier Commissioner Andrew Haworth was excited to break the news to CS:GO fans from all over the world. He argued that the company had been eagerly bidding its time to make a comeback in the live entertainment space.
Leveraging Technology Developed During the Pandemic
“Nothing can replace the feeling of players entertaining and interacting with a live audience,” Haworth added. The BLAST Premier Fall Final Series features a total of six teams and $425,000 in prize money with a shot at making it to the World Final.
Haworth was confident that the challenges that BLAST Premier faced over the past year had been a perfect learning opportunity for the company as it allowed it to leverage new technology and make events happen anyway.
The opportunity to use that technology back into mainstream production is now welcome, Haworth added. Many companies have been able to up their production value by introducing exciting new formats and overcoming physical challenges, not least of which WePlay Esports, which created some of the most compelling Dota 2 tournaments over the past months.
