Announcing Eve Ascension 2024

Gaming is a male-dominated culture. This is an indisputable fact at our current moment in time — and one that isn’t coincidental; according to research from Sky News, a survey of 4000 female gamers showed that 49% of them had “faced abuse or harassment when playing or streaming online”. In team esports, like Counter-Strike, Valorant, League of Legends, and World of Warcraft, we’ve even seen women at the top of the game lose vital opportunities due to their gender. A game like World of Warcraft may pride itself on the diversity of its in-game characters, but behind the screen, there’s still a ways to go when it comes to who gets to feel included in the gaming community.

That’s why we’re excited to announce that Eve Ascension, in partnership with Alienware, is returning in 2024! Eve Ascension, an event series that spotlights players of marginalized genders in esports, has long been a core part of Team Liquid’s commitment to women and marginalized genders in gaming. It began as a Valorant tournament in March 2022, and has only continued to improve since then. It’s a way for us to support diverse talent in and out of the game, as not only will all competitors be of marginalized genders, but so will most of the broadcast talent and support staff.

Much has been said about why people of marginalized genders need their own spaces in gaming (in fact, we’ve written articles about it right here on the Team Liquid website). Though in theory gaming should be equal for all, that often isn’t how it turns out in practice, and as long as women continue to be excluded from competitive gaming spaces, we want to find ways to actively combat it. With Eve Ascension, our main goal is to give players of marginalized genders a chance to grow, team up, build community, and compete in a game that they love. With this, we also aim to raise awareness of the specific challenges that women and other gender minorities face in gaming.

Last September’s Eve Ascension was a huge success, with over 28,500 hours watched across 18 content creators’ platforms. This year, we’re looking to make it even better. To start off, the tournament will have a 2-week qualification period in which teams of five can register via Raider.IO and push keys in order to qualify. Registration will begin on May 17 at 10 AM PDT. For registration, we’re proud to be partnering with Raider.IO, a platform that’s so central to the WoW community.

“Raider.IO is very committed to DEIBAJ initiatives within World of Warcraft and the gaming industry at large, and strives to be a role model of the fact that DEIBAJ is key to success in business, gaming and life,” read a statement from Raider.IO. “Raider.IO is proud to be a Black-owned business, with a team of 50% women and gender minorities, including in leadership positions. Raider.IO staff proudly includes members of the LGBTQIA+ community, persons of colour, and people from around the world – all coming together with their different cultures and experiences!”

[Read more about Raider.io and its founder, Jah Raphael.]

Qualifiers will then begin on May 28 and run until June 11. Once the qualification period is over, the top four teams will advance to the main event, which will be a Great Push-style tournament that takes place over the course of seven hours on June 29. This will be streamed on the Team Liquid Twitch channel, and players are welcome to share their own POVs too. 

The overall prize pool for the event will be $10,000, with the following breakdown:

• 1st place: $5,000
• 2nd place: $2,500
• 3rd place: $1,000
• 4th place: $500

During the event, teams can also earn bounties worth $200 each. Last year we included bounties like “kill two bosses within five minutes of one another,” and “complete a +25 keystone (or higher) with no deaths.” The first team to complete each bounty will have that prize money added to their tournament winnings.

Ultimately, games are just like any other community: diversity and inclusion only enrich the experience. Eve Ascension isn’t about excluding men — rather, it’s about celebrating the people who are here, and have always been here, but are constantly excluded from mainstream events in both subtle and overt ways. Through initiatives like Eve Ascension, we’re building a better, kinder space for everyone.

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For more information about the tournament and how to register, please visit the Eve Ascension Event Hub at tl.gg/eveascension.

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