Monster Energy Launch Invitational set a promising tone for the Call of Duty League 2026

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The Call of Duty League - 2026 Season kicked off with a brand-new pre-season event, the Monster Energy Launch Invitational 2026. This marked the first time the CDL made use of a pre-season event in years, and it also was the first example of the CDL’s new broadcasting rules, now allowing Twitch broadcasts instead of the previous YouTube-exclusive system. The season-opening tournament reached just shy of 150,000 concurrent viewers: a great success for a new event.

Starting on November 22, the Launch Invitational brought together the 16 CDL rosters for a best-of-five double elimination bracket, a high-stakes opener to the 2026 season. With so many matches to play, games took place simultaneously, competing for viewership among potential fans. The Monster Energy Launch Invitational 2026 generated 1.5M Hours Watched with its punchy, weekend format.

The grand final between OpTic Texas and Still Orgless was the most popular game of the entire tournament, drawing in over 144K Peak Viewers. After meeting in the upper bracket final, where OpTic knocked Orgless down with a clean 3-0 sweep, Orgless defeated G2 Minnesota 3-2 to earn another chance at victory.

The final game was, ultimately, far more exciting than the two teams’ previous bout. Every win claimed by OpTic was answered with a victory for the side of Orgless, but in the final match, OpTic Texas emerged victorious with a 6-3 scoreline in the seventh game, claiming the pre-season title with a hard-fought victory. The electrifying finals capped off a strong event for the Call of Duty league; the Monster Energy Launch Invitational 2026 performed far better than past pre-season tournaments, such as the Call of Duty League 2022 Kickoff, which received less than a million HW and under 80K PV. 

The Invitational also marked the return of Twitch broadcasts to the CDL. Immediately, the purple livestreaming platform took the top spot for the series, although the competition with YouTube Live is still close. While YouTube Live was the preferred option for fans looking for the official broadcast, co-streaming was more prevalent on Twitch, where far many more broadcasters supported the event. Keep an eye on the fight for top-spot between these two platforms in the CDL, the 2026 Season still has plenty more tournaments on offer where YouTube could overtake Twitch.

The Regular Season of the Call of Duty League 2026 Season begins today, December 5. This year, similar to previous seasons, will be made up of a 4-Stage Season of Online Qualifiers, Minors, and Majors. The three-event cycle of stages will take place until the end of July, leading into the Call of Duty League 2026: Playoffs in August. Before we get ahead of ourselves, the Call of Duty League 2026: Stage 1 Major Qualifiers have kicked off, and hopes are high for the viewership of the first opening games following the success of the pre-season tournament.