The Call of Duty League has announced a massive change for the 2021 season and the future of the league itself.

The league announced on September 14 that the 2021 season will be played with controllers on PC.

All Pro players who are part of the CDL will be required to compete on PC platform using a league sanctioned controller. A list of allowed controllers will be announced in the near future.

The League is announcing it will move pro team competition to PC + Controller beginning with the 2021 season. This means that all pro matches will be played on PC and all pro players must use a League-approved controller of their choice.

As part of this transition, Call of Duty League competition will maintain exclusive use of controllers for the upcoming season. This change provides players with expanded choice of controller, allowing them to select the League-approved controller style that works best for their game. More details and rules pertaining to peripherals will be released at a future date.

This marks the first time Call of Duty esports will not be played on a console. Activision’s first real sponsored esports event was the 2011 Call of Duty XP, which was played on Xbox 360. Call of Duty esports went on to play on the Xbox console for through 2015.

Call of Duty transitioned to PlayStation as the premiere partner of esports in 2015 with Black Ops 3, and all league matches have been on PS4 since then.

Call of Duty Challengers

Activision has also announced a big change for the Call of Duty Challengers division.

Call of Duty Challengers will be switching to crossplay, which means players on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC can all compete in online Challenger events in the 2021 season.

For the first time in Call of Duty esports history, competitors will be able to compete online in Call of Duty Challengers on their platform of choice across console and PC. We will continue to test platform hardware and make restrictions if necessary.

Players are required to use controllers. Mouse and keyboard peripherals will not be allowed.

Any LAN Challengers event that takes place during the season will be played on PC. Competitors may plug in their League-approved controller of choice.

More information on the 2021 season schedule to come. Stay tuned.

SOURCE: Call of Duty League