List of esports leagues and tournaments
Defunct
Table:
Name
Description
Location
Years active

Apex
Super Smash Bros. tournament with side events for Pokémon, fighting games, etc.
United States
2009–2016

ClanBase
Online & Offline event, known for its ladders and cups. With the EuroCup being the most prominent
Europe
1998–2013

Cyberathlete Professional League
Originally running events in the United States, the CPL has been shut down and then reinstated as a competition in Shenyang, China.
China
1997–2008

GameArena
Original esports competition leader for Oceania before supplanted by Cybergamer in 2007.
Oceania
2002–2014

Pro Gaming League
Modeled after the Major League Gaming tournament, the league shut down after a few years due to lack of popularity.
Canada
2007–2009

Professional Gamers League
The PGL was early professional gamers league based in the United States formed in Nov 1997.[19][20] The first world finals were hosted in Seattle in Jan 1998.[21] Though short lived, they held one of the earliest professional Starcraft tournaments in Nov 1998.[22]
United States
1997–1998

Tougeki – Super Battle Opera
Based in Japan, the competition is among the most important fighting game tournaments.
Japan
2003–2012

World e-Sports Masters
Originally known as the World e-Sports games and based in Seoul, the competition has since moved to China and been renamed the World e-Sports Masters.
China
2005–2010

World Series of Video Games
The tournament held events around the world featuring a variety of games until its cancellation.
Worldwide
2006–2007

With reference to the given table as well as the context paragraphs provided at the end.

Answer the following question: How many participants entered into this annual esports tournament ocurring in the the third most populous country in the world ? Return your answer as JSON: {"answer": "YOUR ANSWER"}. Do not introduce information beyond the provided sources.

Apex was an annual esports tournament held in New Jersey that focused on fighting games , specifically Super Smash Bros . The event 's first incarnation was in 2009 with Jesus Jman Fernandez as the champion of Super Smash Bros. Melee and Elliot Ally Carroza-Oyarce as champion of Super Smash Bros. Brawl . Each year the event grew with more competitors entering . Apex 2014 garnered 629 entrants and was the 2nd largest tournament for Melee at the time after EVO 2013 . Though the tournament initially focused on Brawl , the feature game has since switched to Melee due to its popularity . In 2010 , an event for Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64 was added . In 2014 , the fan modification of Brawl , Project M was added for singles only . Project M has recently been removed as an official event out copyright concerns under Nintendo of America sponsorship and Third Party relations . Apex 2015 was officially sponsored by Nintendo of America and was the largest tournament for Super Smash Bros. in history until it was surpassed by EVO 2015 . Apex has been nicknamed the Super Bowl of 'Super Smash Bros. ' by Ben Lindbergh of Grantland . As of 2016 , Apex is no longer considered a major tournament .
Super Smash Bros. [ a ] is a series of crossover fighting video games published by Nintendo , and primarily features characters from various Nintendo franchises . The series was created by Masahiro Sakurai , who has directed every game in the series . The gameplay objective differs from that of traditional fighters in that the aim is to knock opponents off the stage instead of depleting life bars . The original Super Smash Bros. was released in 1999 for the Nintendo 64 . The series achieved even greater success with the release of Super Smash Bros. Melee , which was released in 2001 for the GameCube and became the bestselling game on that system . A third installment , Super Smash Bros. Brawl , was released in 2008 for the Wii . Although HAL Laboratory had been the developer of the first two games , the third game was developed through the collaboration of several companies . The fourth installment , Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U , were released in 2014 for the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U , respectively . The 3DS installment was the first for a handheld platform . A fifth installment , Super Smash Bros . Ultimate , was released in 2018 for the Nintendo Switch . The series features many characters from Nintendo 's most popular franchises , including Super Mario , Donkey Kong , The Legend of Zelda , Metroid , Star Fox , Kirby , Yoshi and Pokémon .
The United States of America ( USA ) , commonly known as the United States ( U.S. or US ) or America , is a country consisting of 50 states , a federal district , five major self-governing territories , and various possessions . [ g ] At 3.8 million square miles ( 9.8 million km2 ) , it is the world 's third or fourth-largest country by total area [ b ] and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe . Most of the country is located in central North America between Canada and Mexico . With an estimated population of over 328 million , the U.S. is the third most populous country in the world . The capital is Washington , D.C. , and the most populous city is New York City . Paleo-Indians migrated from Siberia to the North American mainland at least 12,000 years ago . European colonization began in the 16th century . The United States emerged from the thirteen British colonies established along the East Coast . Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the colonies led to the American Revolutionary War lasting between 1775 and 1783 , leading to independence . The United States embarked on a vigorous expansion across North America throughout the 19th century - gradually acquiring new territories , displacing Native Americans , and admitting new states - until by 1848 it spanned the continent . During the second half of the 19th century , the American Civil War led to the abolition of slavery in the United States . The Spanish-American War and World War I confirmed the country 's status as a global military power .
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere . It comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia and is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north , the Atlantic Ocean to the west , the Mediterranean Sea to the south , and Asia to the east . The eastern border comprises a long and mixed line of mountain ranges and waterways that would normally define a subcontinent . However , Europe is generally accorded the status of a full continent because of its great physical size and the weight of history and tradition . It is the 6th largest continent in the world . Europe is commonly considered to be separated from Asia by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains , the Ural River , the Caspian and Black Seas and the waterways of the Turkish Straits . Europe covers about 10,180,000 square kilometres ( 3,930,000 sq mi ) , or 2% of the Earth 's surface ( 6.8% of land area ) . Politically , Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states of which Russia is the largest and most populous , spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population . Europe had a total population of about 741 million ( about 11% of the world population ) as of 2018 [ update ] . The European climate is largely affected by warm Atlantic currents that temper winters and summers on much of the continent , even at latitudes along which the climate in Asia and North America is severe . Further from the sea , seasonal differences are more noticeable than close to the coast . Europe , in particular ancient Greece and ancient Rome , was the birthplace of Western civilisation .
The Cyberathlete Professional League ( CPL ) is a professional sports tournament organization specializing in computer and console video game competitions . It was founded by Angel Munoz on June 27 , 1997 in Dallas , Texas . The CPL is considered the pioneer in professional video game tournaments , which have been held worldwide . The CPL 's tournaments are open to all registrants , but due to the ESRB content rating of some video games , CPL competitions are restricted to participants age 17 or older . The CPL has distributed more than US $ 3 million in cash prizes . [ citation needed ] In 2005 , the CPL moved to a World Tour format . The 2005 CPL World Tour focused on the one-on-one deathmatch game Painkiller , and had a total prize purse of $ 1 millions . The winner of the CPL Grand Finals event , Johnathan Fatal1ty Wendel , went home with the grand prize of $ 150,000 , while Sander Vo0 Kaasjager took home the MVP trophy for having the most tournament wins . In March 2008 , the CPL ceased operations , citing a crowded field of competing leagues . On August 25 , 2008 , the CPL announced that it had signed an acquisition agreement with an investment group based in Abu Dhabi , United Arab Emirates . On August 23 , 2010 , the former parent company of the CPL , announced that the two-year acquisition process of the CPL was finalized , and that the sole owner of the CPL ( and its subsidiaries ) was now WoLong Ventures PTE of Singapore . Following this acquisition , the CPL has hosted annual competitions in China , in collaboration with the municipal government of Shenyang .
Shenyang ( [ ʂə̀n.jǎŋ ] ; Chinese : 沈阳 ) , formerly known as Fengtian ( Chinese : 奉天 ; pinyin : Fèngtiān ) or by its Manchu name Mukden , is a major sub-provincial city and the provincial capital of Liaoning province , People 's Republic of China . Located in central-north Liaoning , it is the province 's most populous city as well as the largest city in Northeast China by urban population , with an urban population of 6.3 million ( 2010 census ) , while the total metropolitan population is up to 8.1 million . Shenyang is also the central city of one of the major megalopolises in China , the Greater Shenyang Metropolitan Area , with a total population over 23 million . The city 's administrative region includes the ten metropolitan districts of Shenyang proper , the county-level city of Xinmin , and two counties of Kangping and Faku . In the 17th century , Shenyang was conquered by the Manchu people and briefly used as the capital of the Qing dynasty . The Battle of Mukden took place in 1905 as part of the Russo-Japanese War . Japan 's subsequent victory allowed them to annex the region west of the old city and increase their influence on Shenyang ; the Mukden Incident led the Japanese to further invade and occupy the rest of Northeast China , creating the puppet state of Manchukuo . After the Japanese surrender in 1945 , Shenyang remained a Kuomintang stronghold , but was captured by the Communists in 1948 after the Liaoshen Campaign . Along with its nearby cities , Shenyang is an important industrial center in China , and serves as the transportation and commercial hub of China 's northeast - particularly with Japan , Russia and Korea . A center of heavy industry in China since the 1930s , and the spearhead of the Chinese central government 's Northeast Area Revitalization Plan , the city has been diversifying its industry , including expanding into the service sector . Growing industries include software , automotive and electronics .
China ( Chinese : 中国 ; pinyin : Zhōngguó ) , officially the People 's Republic of China ( PRC ) , is a country in East Asia and is the world 's most populous country , with a population of around 1.428 billion in 2017 . Covering approximately 9,600,000 square kilometers ( 3,700,000 sq mi ) , it is the third largest country by area . [ j ] Governed by the Communist Party of China , the state exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces , [ k ] five autonomous regions , four direct-controlled municipalities ( Beijing , Tianjin , Shanghai , and Chongqing ) , and the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau . China emerged as one of the world 's first civilizations , in the fertile basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain . For millennia , China 's political system was based on hereditary monarchies , or dynasties , beginning with the semi-mythical Xia dynasty in 21st century BCE . Since then , China has expanded , fractured , and re-unified numerous times . In the 3rd century BCE , the Qin reunited core China and established the first Chinese empire . The succeeding Han dynasty , which ruled from 206 BCE until 220 CE , saw some of the most advanced technology at that time , including papermaking and the compass , along with agricultural and medical improvements . The invention of gunpowder and movable type in the Tang dynasty ( 618-907 ) and Northern Song ( 960-1127 ) completed the Four Great Inventions . Tang culture spread widely in Asia , as the new Silk Route brought traders to as far as Mesopotamia and the Horn of Africa . Dynastic rule ended in 1912 with the Xinhai Revolution , when the Republic of China ( ROC ) replaced the Qing dynasty . China , as a whole , was ravaged by feudal warlordism and Japan during World War II .
Oceania ( UK : /ˌoʊsiˈɑːniə , ˌoʊʃi- , -ˈeɪn-/ , US : /ˌoʊʃiˈæniə/ ( listen ) , /-ˈɑːn-/ ) is a geographic region that includes Australasia , Melanesia , Micronesia and Polynesia . Spanning the eastern and western hemispheres , Oceania has a land area of 8,525,989 square kilometres ( 3,291,903 sq mi ) and a population of 42 million . Situated in the southeast of the Asia-Pacific region , Oceania , when compared to continental regions , is the smallest in land area and the second smallest in population after Antarctica . Oceania has a diverse mix of economies from the highly developed and globally competitive financial markets of Australia and New Zealand , which rank high in quality of life and human development index , to the much less developed economies that belong to countries such as Kiribati and Tuvalu , while also including medium-sized economies of Pacific islands such as Palau , Fiji and Tonga . The largest and most populous country in Oceania is Australia , with Sydney being the largest city of both Oceania and Australia . The first settlers of Australia , New Guinea , and the large islands just to the east arrived more than 60,000 years ago . [ citation needed ] Oceania was first explored by Europeans from the 16th century onward . Portuguese navigators , between 1512 and 1526 , reached the Tanimbar Islands , some of the Caroline Islands and west Papua New Guinea . On his first voyage in the 18th century , James Cook , who later arrived at the highly developed Hawaiian Islands , went to Tahiti and followed the east coast of Australia for the first time . The Pacific front saw major action during the Second World War , mainly between Allied powers the United States and Australia , and Axis power Japan . The arrival of European settlers in subsequent centuries resulted in a significant alteration in the social and political landscape of Oceania . In more contemporary times there has been increasing discussion on national flags and a desire by some Oceanians to display their distinguishable and individualistic identity .
Major League Gaming Corp. ( MLG ) is a professional esports organization . MLG is headquartered in New York City , New York and was founded in 2002 by Sundance DiGiovanni and Mike Sepso . MLG has held official video game tournaments throughout the United States and Canada . The Boost Mobile MLG Pro Circuit was a television broadcast of Halo 2 MLG tournaments in 2006 and 2007 , ESPN.com , and other broadband sites . The company has also been involved in television production , and game development . MLG 's aim is to elevate computer and console game tournaments to viable competitive and spectator events . In January 2016 , video game publisher Activision Blizzard announced its acquisition of Major League Gaming . The company , whose own esports division is led by MLG co-founder Mike Sepso , stated that it intended to leverage the purchase as part of its plans to build an esports-focused television network .
Canada is a country in the northern part of North America . Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific and northward into the Arctic Ocean , covering 9.98 million square kilometres ( 3.85 million square miles ) , making it the world 's second-largest country by total area . Its southern border with the United States , stretching some 8,891 kilometres ( 5,525 mi ) , is the world 's longest bi-national land border . Canada 's capital is Ottawa , and its three largest metropolitan areas are Toronto , Montreal , and Vancouver . As a whole , Canada is sparsely populated , with most of its land area dominated by forest and tundra . Its population is highly urbanized , with over 80 percent of its inhabitants concentrated in large and medium-sized cities , and 70 percent residing within 100 kilometres ( 62 mi ) of the southern border . Canada 's climate varies widely across its vast area , ranging from Arctic climate in the north to hot summers in the southern regions , with four distinct seasons . Various indigenous peoples inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years before European colonization . Beginning in the 16th century , British and French expeditions explored and later settled along the Atlantic coast . As a consequence of various armed conflicts , France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763 . In 1867 , with the union of three British North American colonies through Confederation , Canada was formed as a federal dominion of four provinces . This began an accretion of provinces and territories and a process of increasing autonomy from the United Kingdom .
The AMD Professional Gamers League ( PGL ) , founded around 1997 , was one of the first professional computer gaming eSports leagues . The PGL was run by Total Entertainment Network and was sponsored by AMD . The first professional tournament they held was for StarCraft in September 1997 . The league was official unveiled at a press conference at Candlestick Park in San Francisco on November 3 , 1997 . It was sponsored by Microsoft , Nvidia , and Levi Strauss & Co . The organization raised over $ 1.2mil USD in sponsorship money . Nearly 1,400 players took part in the first Quake tournament , which took place online . The first-ever Professional Gamers League Finals took place on January 30 and January 31 , 1998 in Seattle , Washington at the Sega GameWorks super-arcade . Two games were played in this competition , Command & Conquer : Red Alert and Quake . Both tournaments featured 1 on 1 play with David DeepBlue Magro winning the Red Alert tournament and Dennis Thresh Fong winning the Quake tournament . Both players won $ 7,500 and new AMD computers . In 2000 , Gamers.com acquired the PGL from Pogo.com .
Tougeki - Super Battle Opera ( 闘劇 , Tōgeki , lit . fighting play ) ( SBO ) , also known as the Arcadia Cup Tournament was an annual Japanese fighting video game tournament hosted by the magazine Arcadia . Several games are represented at a single year 's tournament , with the lineup changing every year . Which games are to be represented are decided by the organizers of the event . It is traditionally considered one of the two most prestigious fighting game tournaments , along with EVO . It was suspended indefinitely in 2012 . Tougeki generally begins in April with the qualifications round , which is spread over all of Japan and is distributed over a number of months . The finals are then held over two to three days , usually in August . Unless explicitly stated , Tougeki usually refers only to the finals . For 2012 , Tougeki was held as part of the larger outdoor gaming event GAME SUMMER FESTIVAL 2012 , which also included Ongeki ~Game Sound Impact 2012~ , for music games , and Wasshoi 2012 Summer ! , for shoot 'em up games , and was held in Narita , Chiba . The event was streamed on niconico for 1500 niconico points ( 1500 JPY ) for one day , and 2500 niconico points ( 2500 JPY ) for two days . As the first tournament held outdoors , there were many reported problems with the event , including low attendance , very high temperatures , glare on the screens , and network problems that required tournament matches to be restarted .
A fighting game is a video game genre based around close combat between a limited number of characters , in a stage in which the boundaries are fixed . The characters fight each others until they defeat their opponents or the time expires . The matches typically consist of several rounds , in an arena , with each player character having different abilities but each is relatively viable to choose . Players must master techniques such as blocking , counter-attacking , and chaining attacks together into combos . Starting in the early 1990s , most fighting games allowed the player to execute special attacks by performing specific input combinations . The fighting game genre is related to but distinct from beat 'em ups , which involve large numbers of enemies against the human player . The first game to feature fist fighting was Heavyweight Champ in 1976 , but it was Karate Champ which popularized one-on-one martial arts games in arcades in 1984 . The following year , Yie Ar Kung-Fu featured antagonists with differing fighting styles , while The Way of the Exploding Fist further popularized the genre on home systems . In 1987 , Street Fighter introduced hidden special attacks . In 1991 , Capcom 's highly successful Street Fighter II refined and popularized many of the conventions of the genre . The fighting game subsequently became the preeminent genre for competitive video gaming in the early to mid-1990s , particularly in arcades . This period spawned dozens of other popular fighting games , including franchises like Street Fighter , Super Smash Bros. , Tekken , and Virtua Fighter .
Japan ( Japanese : 日本 , Nippon [ ɲippoꜜɴ ] ( listen ) or Nihon [ ɲihoꜜɴ ] ( listen ) ) is an island country located in East Asia . It is bordered by the Sea of Japan to the west and the Pacific Ocean to the east , and spans more than 3,000 kilometers ( 1,900 mi ) along the coast of the continent from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Philippine Sea in the south . Part of the Pacific Ring of Fire , Japan encompasses a stratovolcanic archipelago of about 6,852 islands , with five main islands ( Hokkaido , Honshu , Kyushu , Shikoku , and Okinawa ) comprising 97% of the country 's total area of 377,975 square kilometers ( 145,937 sq mi ) . Japan is officially divided into 47 prefectures and traditionally into eight regions . Approximately two-thirds of the country 's terrain is mountainous and heavily forested , and less than one-eighth of land is suitable for agriculture . Consequently , Japan is among the most densely populated and urbanized countries in the world , with over 90% of its population living in urban areas . The largest of these is the metropolitan area centered on the capital city of Tokyo , which is the most populous in the world and home to more than 38 million people . Japan itself is the world 's eleventh most populous country with a population of 126.2 million , of which 97.8% are ethnically Japanese . The kanji ( or Chinese characters ) that make up the name of Japan in the Japanese language mean sun origin ; in the Western world , the country is often known by the sobriquet Land of the Rising Sun . Periods of influence from other regions , primarily China , followed by periods of isolation , particularly from Western Europe , have characterized the history of Japan . While archaeological evidence indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period , the first written mention of the archipelago appears in Chinese texts from the first century AD . Between the fourth and ninth centuries , the kingdoms of Japan became gradually unified under an Emperor and imperial court based in Heian-kyō ( modern Kyoto ) .
The World e-Sports Masters ( WEM ) was an international competitive gaming event organized by the Hangzhou eSport Culture & Sport Communication Company , Ltd. Prize money are awarded to winning individuals and teams . It was first held in 2005 under the World e-Sports Games The World eSports Games , Inc. was founded in 2004 by Paul Chong . Headquartered in Seoul , the first three games were held in South Korea in 2005 . A year later , the event moved to Hangzhou where it was renamed the World e-Sports Games Masters . In 2007 , WEG again returned to Seoul to host the World e-Sports Games e-Stars , but moved back to China for the 2008 season of what is now the World e-Sports Masters . Since then , it has been held annually ( except for 2011 ) , instead of year-round . OnGameNet is the current rightsholder to the World e-Sports Masters franchise .
World Series of Video Games ( WSVG ) was an international professional electronic sports competition . It held its first season in 2006 , with competitions in six different games and six events held around the world including the finals of the event . The total prize purse of the season was US $ 750,000 which includes the $ 240,000 prize purse that was winnable at the finals . The WSVG was operated by Games Media Properties , an American gaming company founded in 2002 with the BYOC ( Bring Your Own Computer ) Lan section subcontracted out to Lanwar Inc . The series was the continuation of the one million dollar 2005 CPL World Tour , as one of the founders of the WSVG as well as Intel , the major sponsor of the tour left the Cyberathlete Professional League to help fund these series .