Bandai Namco has announced a tournament circuit for Dragon Ball FighterZ .

The Dragon Ball FighterZ World Tour will kick off at CEO 2018 at the end of June.

DBFZ has already risen to the top of the fighting game esports market and this circuit will lead to more opportunities for organizations and brands to invest in the game.

Today, Japanese game developer Bandai Namco announced a circuit for its popular fighting game Dragon Ball FighterZ. The Dragon Ball FighterZ World Tour will kick off at the end of June at CEO 2018, one of the largest annual fighting game tournaments of the year.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Unlike traditional league-based esports, the fighting game year can be difficult to follow.[/perfectpullquote]

Bandai Namco did not reveal any details about the World Tour’s structure, though professional fighting game circuits generally follow a similar structure. Players attend circuit-approved tournaments such like CEO and through their performance try to qualify for a circuit championship at the end of the year. The World Tour’s logo shows that the circuit will run for a 2018/2019 season.

Unlike traditional league-based esports, the fighting game year can be difficult to follow. Each tournament is an independent operation with no connection to the next event. Similar to Dota 2’s The International and its schedule of Majors and Minors, professional circuits like the Capcom Pro Tour for Street Fighter or the TEKKEN World Tour provide a natural connective narrative for the season, while also providing additional stakes for every tournament. Each event affects a player’s ability to qualify for the championship gradually raising the stakes throughout the year as players on the borderline fight for the last few qualification spots at the last tournament of the season.

Dragon Ball FighterZ has already leapt to the forefront of fighting game esports. Its launch in January shattered fighting game sales records, selling over 1.5M copies that month. In May, the DBFZ event at Combo Breaker 2018 rivaled Street Fighter in viewership, both games peaking around 50K concurrent viewers. Organizations like Echo Fox , NRG Esports , and Panda Global have all signed dedicated DBFZ players. As of June 1, DBFZ has the highest number of registered players at Evo 2018—the biggest fighting game tournament of the year. The game has already risen to the top of the fighting game community without a professional circuit.

Related Article: Fighting Games: The Next Esports Investment Frontier

Much of DBFZ’s success comes from the strength of the Dragon Ball brand. In both American and Japanese culture (the two countries with the highest concentration of fighting game tournaments) Dragon Ball is a 33 year old entertainment property with multiple long-running television series, and video game spinoffs that have collectively sold over 40M copies worldwide. DBFZ was also used to cross-promote the most recent series, Dragon Ball Super, which was still on the air in the lead-up to the game’s launch.

[perfectpullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Much of DBFZ’s success comes from the strength of the Dragon Ball Z brand.[/perfectpullquote]

While much of the World Tour’s impact on DBFZ’s place in the esports market will depend on its structure and prize pool, its mere existence is a landmark moment for fighting game esports. Having a professional circuit structure means that the best players will be incentivized to attend more tournaments, increasing viewership for events throughout the year.

If the World Tour follows the common circuit structure, high profile tournaments like CEO and Evo will receive additional prize support. Between better views and bigger prize pools, more esports organizations can invest in DBFZ players and expect a return on investment. Circuit events will be able to leverage the game’s popularity and expected boosts to viewership and attendance to sell better sponsorship deals.

Street Fighter, Injustice 2, and TEKKEN have seen an increase in the number of sponsored players and brand partnerships as their professional circuits have grown—DBFZ already has a branded arcade stick as part of a partnership between Namco Bandai and Razer . Having a professional circuit means that the game’s esports engine can run more smoothly.