War - what is it good for? £1million, if you can beat the world's top Call of Duty champs

In just over a decade, Call of Duty has grown from being a historical war game which even bearded Dads thought was “jolly good” into an endless online battle arena which is played cumulatively for more than 1,900 years every single day.

COD, as it is known, is serious business to the fans. The High Score Table from Eighties arcade machines has been replaced by something far more daunting - a global league table of the world’s best marksmen, armchair generals and stone-cold killers.

Sponsorship from big tech firms has ensured that professional teams earn salaries not far off some other pro sportsmen - and this weekend, four British teams will enter the finals in Los Angeles, having battled in the game’s bleak arenas for months, in heats across Australia, Europe and America.

The prize money is $1,000,000 dollars - not bad for a sport which began almost by accident after Doom creator John Carmack casually dropped some car keys at a Doom competition and said anyone who could beat him would win his Ferrari. Dennis Fong - now a gaming entrepreneur - slaughtered Carmack, and a sport was born.

Top players now fly first class, hobnob with minor celebrities and can earn six-figure salaries from endorsements - but over the past years, it has blossomed into a spectator sport.

Team Epsilon's Joran 'Jurd' Crowley says, "I am not 'famous' as such, but I have been recognised in the street. It was a weird experience to say the least and it's quite surreal how I have become 'famous' or well-known just from playing a video game."

Watching a really good Call of Duty player such as Jurd is like seeing James Bond in action - except with more guns at his disposal. Pro players train for more than ten hours a day - and it shows.

When the 32 teams begin their battle to the death today, roaring crowds will cheer them on - but that’s nothing new.

What is new that this is a TV event on a scale rarely seen outside the Olympics or the World Cup - millions will watch from around the world via PCs and Xbox consoles. New online channels spring up each month to meet the demand - one, Twitch.tv, now has 300 million viewers per month. For advertisers, it’s a Holy Grail - a clearly targeted audience: perhaps unsurprisingly 90% male, and 50% 16-34 year olds. In between killing sprees, these are consumers with money to burn.

Call of Duty is among the first games to become a true spectator sport - ignored by traditional media, because viewers watch via Xbox, or their PC, instead of TV. Last year, 53 million hours of Call of Duty were watched around the world. Five billion hours were played - and the company’s CEO says it’s “time to find out who’s best”.

                                               [Is this the world's safest bicycle lock?]

Audiences for games are global, and viewing figures often outpace ‘real’ sporting events including some at the Winter Olympics - last year 50 million hours of ‘eSports’ was watched around the world. Since 2010, the amount of eSports watched around the world has increased fifteen-fold.

Gaming doesn’t need the support of cable or sattelite  to succeed - people watch anyway. The most subscribed YouTube channel on Earth is a Call of Duty channel. Machinima.com recently hit a billion page views.

For gamers, the chance to travel the world and win millions is like reality TV - but actually real. Gamers get noticed simply by being good at games. The best of the best are recruited by teams, sponsored, and inducted into oneof the most high-pressure sports there is.

Pro gamers often ‘burn out’ by 25 - offering a terrifying insight into the level of reflexes needed to compete on the global stage.

For the young gamers taking part, this means that this may be their only chance at victory. Over two days, 32 teams will fight each other for prizes - including four from the UK.
 
Since January, the best competitive Call of Duty® teams from around the world have gone head-to-head in regional qualifying events in order to secure a spot at the 2014 Call of Duty® Championship, presented by Xbox., playing Call of Duty®: Ghosts, on Xbox One for their share of the tournament’s $1 million prize pool and the coveted title of "Call of Duty World Champions."

Epsilon eSports is one of four UK teams flying out to LA - having spent months flying around the world knocking out lesser competitors. The $1m price is divived - but only one team withs the title of Call of Duty World Champions.

'Yahoo News spoke with confident team leader Team Captain Jordan ‘Jurd’ Crowley.

I am 19 years old. I have been playing competitively for three years - and in the past year, I went pro. At that time, e-Sports suddenly went ‘pro’. Before, you’d walk in and it would be a clique of people who you probably knew already. Audiences have most certainly got bigger over the past couple of years. Suddenly, it’s a worldwide phenomenon.

We’re a small team, so we can all take command  - but I am the backbone of the team. I have been in Epsilon longest. I am level headed, I try to keep everyone calm and collected in game.

Personally, I love the atmosphere at events like the Call of Duty Championship. The roaring fans and the enthusiasm of the commentators - it feels like a real sport, not something on a games console.

Have the audiences changed/got bigger over the past couple of years?

Hundreds of thousands of viewers tune in to watch their favourite teams. Some countries. suh as Korea, officially recognise it as a professional sport. It’s shown in stadiums on big screens, and there are tons of gamer TV channels. The rise of live streaming has opened up new opportunities for brands to connect with pro gamers - and has seriously increeased the amount of money gamers can earn.

What's the difference between a good home COD player and someone who can compete?

Most players reach a level where they can assess a situation, react, and survive. For pro gaming, that isn’t good enough. We invest so much time that we are aware of every single situation that could happen in game and know how to deal with it. So that's the main difference for me.

What's the rivalry like between teams? Are there 'grudge matches'? Is it gentlemanly? There is definitely some rivalry between teams, which in my opinion is a good thing as it develops a story between teams. For example, in the European Call of Duty scene there are rivalries between near enough all teams as most players have been on teams with each other at one stage.

The biggest rivalry in the European Call of Duty scene at the moment is between TCM Gaming and ourselves, Epsilon eSports. During the previous Call of Duty title, which was played on Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, we had the spotlight on us as the best team in Europe. But with the release of Call of Duty: Ghosts TCM Gaming has stolen the spotlight and claimed the title of best team in Europe after taking us down 3-1 in the Call of Duty Ghosts European Championship. So there is a big rivalry between our teams.

A lot of people watch COD competitions now - do you have to think of the people watching at home? You are always thinking of the people watching at home when competing. You don't want to let your fans down as they are the reason for being able to make a sustainable profession from gaming. So in a way they are a motivation to keep me wanting to perform at my best.

When preparing for these big events I start to take the game a lot more seriously and invest a lot more of my time into the game, I formulate certain strategies and iron out kinks in our gameplay that could cause us to lose. This is especially true when there is a large sum of money on the line and I know myself and my team have the capability to walk away with the prize.

Personally I don't think I have any pre-match rituals but I guess listening to music before games to get myself pumped up and hyped could be considered a ritual.

What is it that drives pro teams onwards - the chance of money, or fame?

In my opinion it's a combination of both points mentioned and one more thing. What drives me onwards is the competition and how much fun I have competing. When I'm going up against some of the best teams in the world and competing at the highest possible level I'm in my element and doing what I enjoy the most, playing video games.

Our preparation is done in the weeks leading up to the Call of Duty Championship. We each know our role and have strategies to implement within the game. In terms of preparation at the event we'll make sure we are warmed up and 100% focused on the task at hand.

All of our players are experienced and have competed in high pressure situations with large                   cash prizes at stake. No-one individual is responsible for the others we just have to play to                     the best of our ability in the games as a team.

What do you reckon to your chances at the Call of Duty Championship? 

I am very confident in my team. At last year’s Championships in LA I ended up finishing in 6th place and walking away with $50,000 with a very un-practiced team compared to the team I am with at the moment. So I'm just looking to improve on last year’s placement and hopefully win more money.

Call of Duty Ghosts is out now on Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4.