HUGAN ePremier12 starts 26 October; Competition details announced

The stage is nearly set for the biggest tournament in the history of WBSC eSport.

The HUGAN WBSC ePremier12 2024 will take place beginning in Raleigh (North Carolina), USA on 26 October with the final in Tokyo, Japan on 23 November and will feature 12 of the best players in WBSC eBASEBALL™: POWER PROS competing for the title of the best eBaseball™ player in the world.

Each of the 12 participants in the HUGAN ePremier12 qualify via a multi-step process that involves online qualifying tournaments and in-person competitions in countries and cities around the world. Players in the tournament come from all over the globe including Japan, Chinese Taipei, the United States, Mexico and Europe.

Seven of the 12 contestants have been confirmed for the ePremier12 so far. They include SHORA, the defending world champion from Japan who won the WBSC eBaseball™ Series 2023 World Finals in Lausanne, Switzerland in March; Japan’s NEGRAY, who won the 1^st Global Qualifier Play-Off in Tokyo in June; Mexico’s Ben Zen, who won the Mexico Finals in Mexico City in mid-September; Japan’s Tomokun, who won the 2^nd Global Qualifier Play-Off in Tokyo in September; Chinese Taipei’s CMWANG and SHE SHE, who qualified via the ePremier12 Chinese Taipei Qualifier presented by TLLB in September at New Taipei City Esports Base; and Japan's DOIYA, who won the Japan Finals which was staged at the Tokyo Game Show last weekend.

Five more qualifiers are still to be determined via upcoming regional qualifier tournaments and wild card selections.

The ePremier12 Europe Finals will take place on 5 October at Bluenergy Stadium in Udine, Italy, which will qualify one player from Europe for the HUGAN ePremier12.

The ePremier12 USA Finals will take place on 25 October at the North Carolina State University Gaming and Esports Lab in Raleigh (North Carolina), USA, which will qualify two players from the United States for the HUGAN ePremier12. 

Wild Cards

Two wild card slots have been allocated as follows: 

1. To the third ranked player from the USA Qualifier to celebrate the impressive growth and engagement from the US based POWER PROS community.
2. To the third ranked player from the Chinese Taipei Qualifier to celebrate the impressive growth and engagement from the Taiwan based POWER PROS community.

ePremier12 Opening Round

The 12 qualifiers will be placed into two groups of six players for the ePremier12 Opening Round, with Group A taking place from 26-27 October at the North Carolina State University Gaming and Esports Lab in Raleigh (North Carolina), USA and Group B taking place from 2-3 November at New Taipei City Esports Base in Taiwan.

The two groups will be divided as follows:

Group A: Ben Zen, two USA Qualifiers, European Qualifier, two Wild Cards

Group B: SHORA, NEGRAY, Tomokun, CMWANG, SHE SHE, DOIYA

Each group of six players will split into two pools of three players according to their Power Rank on 6 October 2024 and will play a round-robin on the Day 1 of Group competition. All players advance to the single-elimination phase on Day 2. Two players from each group advance to the Super Round in Tokyo.

The ePremier12 Super Round will take place on 21 November starting at 15:00 (local time) in Tokyo, Japan. The four players who qualified, two from each group, will play a round-robin tournament at the KONAMI Creative Center in Tokyo.

The third- and fourth-place players from the round robin will play in the Third Place Game at the Konami Creative Center, while the first- and second-place players from the round robin will play in the Championship Game, which will be held at the world-famous Tokyo Dome on 23 November as part of the pre-game show of a Japan Super Round game at the WBSC Premier12 2024 presented by RAXUS.

Prize Money

The winner will be crowned WBSC eBaseball™ World Champion 2024 and will take home the largest share of the US$20,000 prize pool set by the WBSC to be split among the four finalists. 

The event will be broadcasted LIVE via multiple platforms, so stay tuned to watch eBaseball™ history unfold.