OpTic CEO HECZ wants major CoD changes with $4 million prize pool tournament

During Scump’s Watch Party stream for the CDL matches on February 14, OpTic CEO and CoD legend HECZ proposed replacing the traditional annual CoD Championships with a joint event in collaboration with the Esports World Cup.

He stated, “I mean too late now, but I hope the next year if we are going to continue to do the EWC stuff that they don’t have a champs. And then just put like a $4 million f**king tournament on to see who really plays that hard.”

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OpTic HecZ wants Esports World Cup and CoD Champs to combine for a yearly culminating event with $4 million up for grabs

We liking this idea? pic.twitter.com/xucocv94Jc

— Jake Lucky (@JakeSucky) February 14, 2025

The CoD Champs 2024 tournament kicked off on July 17, featuring a $2 million prize pool. OpTic Texas secured the world championship title, claiming the $800,000 grand prize.

A month later, EWC 2024 took place from August 15-18, offering a $1.8 million prize pool, with Atlanta FaZe taking home $600,000.

Combining both events’ prize pools brings the total to $3.8 million—close to the amount HECZ referenced in his proposal.

What is the likelihood of OpTic HECZ’s proposal?

Despite HECZ’s comments, Activision has not announced any plans to not have the annual tournament that has long been the staple and pivotal CoD esports tournament for many years. This is just purely a proposal from the OpTic CEO.

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With this in mind, he also said, “I’ve spoken to several team owners about all committing to having champs in Vegas for the rest of time.”

While the 2025 CDL Championship is set for Toronto, last year’s event was in Texas, and before that, 2023’s CoD champs tournament was held in Las Vegas.

The Esports World Cup 2025 is set to return for another year with exact dates for all the esports involved yet to be announced, but is scheduled to take place throughout summer and include over 20 competitions for an array of different games.

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EWC also announced that they would be partnering up with Riot Games to bring their major esports titles of Valorant and League of Legends to the roster for this year’s event.