Esports will feature prominently at Queen City Ex 2019, the annual festival in Saskatchewan, Canada.
This year's Queen City Ex will run from July 31st to August 4th at Evraz Place, Regina, and organisers are placing significant emphasis on esports, with tournaments in Fortnite and Super Smash Bros, as well as a free-play League Of Legends event.
The Fortnite and Smash Bros contests will each boast a prize pool of $10,000.
Esports at Queen City Ex
- Wednesday, July 31st: Saskatchewan Fortnite Championship Qualifiers/Mario Kart Free Play
- Thursday, August 1st: Saskatchewan Fortnite Championship Qualifiers/League of Legends Free Play presented by Escape Club
- Friday, August 2nd: $10,000 Saskatchewan Fortnite Solos Championship Playoffs and Championship Round presented by The Matrix Gaming Centre
- Saturday, August 3rd to Sunday, August 4th: $10,000 SKL Smashfest 5
Queen City Ex's origins can be traced back to the first official fair in 1883 and organisers are seemingly keen to stay down with the kids with the inclusion of esports.
Chelsea Galloway, manager of major events and entertainment for Evraz Place, said: "We wanted to make this the biggest esports event that Saskatchewan has ever seen, and so by making that prize pool we’re hoping to attract players from a national and even international level to come into our event."
Historic event
Registration for The Matrix’s Fortnite tournament costs $40, with a maximum of 640 players allowed entry. Everyone who registers will placed in a draw to win a $3,000 gaming PC. The overall champion takes home $8,500 of the $10,000 prize pool.
Matrix founder Mark Lloyd told the Regina Leader Post: “Fortnite gets more gameplay hours in our location than our next top 10 games combined.
“For Saskatchewan, though, I’m pretty sure this will be historic. I’m not aware of anything close."
