Smite World Championship

The Smite World Championship is the annual world championship for the multiplayer online battle arena video game Smite.

Smite World Championship

Tournament information
Sport	Smite
Location	Atlanta, Georgia, US
Month played	November (since season 5), previously January
Established	2015
Number of tournaments	1 annually
Administrator(s)	Hi-Rez Studios
Format	Double Elimination Placement Stage + Single Elimination Knockout Stage
Teams	10
Current champion
SK Gaming

From January 9–11, 2015 Hi-Rez Studios hosted the first Smite World Championship.[1][2] Teams from North America, South America, Europe, and China traveled to Atlanta, Georgia for the tournament.[1] The $2.6 million prize pool for the tournament was at the time the third-highest in eSports, behind the third and fourth iterations of Dota 2's The International, and just slightly ahead of the League of Legends World Championships. One of the North American teams, COGnitive Prime, took home the first place prize of $1.3 million.[3]

The 2016 iteration was held from January 7–10, 2016, and featured tournaments for both the PC and Xbox One versions of the game.[4] The event was streamed on Twitch on the SMITE Game TV account.[5] The total prize pool for the PC tournament was $1 million USD.[6][7][8]

SWC 2017 was held January 5–8, as part of the Hi-Rez Expo event that also included a Smite console world championship, and the Paladins HRX invitational. It was streamed on the Hireztv twitch account, and had a $1 million USD prize pool. The winner was the European team NRG Esports, who won the 2016 event under the Epsilon name.

The 2018 Smite World Championship was held from January 3–7, 2018. The prize pool was at its lowest $785,000. The North American team eUnited defeated EU's Team Rival in the finals.

Unlike previous iterations which were held in January, SWC 2019 was held from November 16–18, and in order to end the competitive season, was also held in 2018. The Smite World Championship also saw a move to the Georgia World Congress Center, whereas previous iterations were held in the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre. The prize pool was estimated around $785,000. North American Splyce defeated EU's returning finalists Team Rival.

SWC 2020 was held from November 15–17, 2019. The prize pool was estimated to have had a slight increase at $800.000. As its previous iteration, it was held at the Georgia World Congress Center. SK Gaming defeated now three-time finalist Team Rival (different roster to previous years).