ALGS Year 3 with $5 million prize pool announced

Apex Legends is getting another season of its competitive circuit this year with a $5 million prize pool. Compared to last year, however, a few small things have changed in the ALGS.

EA recently announced details of the third year of the ALGS, which is scheduled to kick off in early October. The circuit will host LAN tournaments for the Winter 2023 Split One Playoffs, Spring Split Two Playoffs, and next summer’s ALGS Championship. Where these LAN tournaments will be held is not yet clear.

What changes in ALGS Year 3? 

While the general tournament structure of the ALGS remains the same with two Pro League splits and final playoffs, there are some changes to the circuit’s format. More specifically, the size of each region’s Pro League has been reduced from 40 to 30 teams. This line-up is made up of 22 teams that are invited directly and eight that qualify in a pre-selection.

Among the invited Pro League teams are Natus Vincere, NRG, the Sentinels, Fnatic, GMT Esports, FENNEL, TSM, Furia, SCARZ and many more. The biggest change here is DarkZero, as the ALGS champions from APAC South have switched regions and are relocating to North America for next season.

Furthermore, Regional Finals will now be held on the final day of each regular Pro League Season Split as part of “ecosystem improvements designed to increase player and fan engagement.” These games will be played in the match-point format familiar to Apex fans from major tournaments like the ALGS Championship, and will pit the top 20 teams in each region’s Pro League against each other. In addition to the already high stakes of the Matchpoint format, the winning team is guaranteed a spot in the LAN Playoffs on this final day of competition.

The secondary Challenger Circuit has also been updated. Winners from the Challenger Circuit events will automatically qualify for either the Split Two Pro League Qualifier or the Last Chance Qualifier, depending on the schedule.

The Preseason Qualifiers will take place in October 2022 before the start of the ALGS Year 3 Split 1 scheduled for November 6.

New opportunities for Apex players

The announcement of ALGS Year 3 comes after a long offseason for Apex competitions. While the Year 2 ALGS Championship in Raleigh totaled nearly 11 million hours across all platforms and filled the stands at PNC Arena, demonstrating Apex’s continued growth as an esports, third-party tournament offerings in the offseason were very low, especially for regions outside of North America.

That’s why the announcement of the new season of competitive Apex Legends is great news for the whole Apex community, which has started to be increasingly nervous about the future of the title’s esports scene.

Image credit: EA