Featuring new graphics technology that drives stunning cinematic action, Treyarch’s new creation delivers an epic single-player campaign including branching storylines and non-linear missions, a re-imagined multiplayer and the most diverse and biggest zombies experience ever.

32 of the most skilled Call of Duty: Black Ops II multiplayer teams are competing head-to-head on the Xbox 360 for their share of a $1 million total prize purse, and the opportunity for one team to secure the highly coveted honor of Call of DutyWorld Champions.

Activision is uniting the Call of Duty community of more than 40 million players by live streaming minute-by-minute coverage of the Call of Duty Championship, presented by Xbox, which can be viewed via the Xbox Live Dashboard in participating regions, on Xbox.com, Call of Duty Elite and the Call of Duty Facebook page, and via GameSpot and Twitch.tv, among other destinations.  The Call of Duty Championship, presented by Xbox finals live stream begins on Sunday, April 7 at 3:00 p.m. (PDT).

“The Call of Duty Championship, presented by Xbox isn’t just another gaming tournament, it’s a celebration of Call of Duty and a recognition of the franchise’s most dedicated, talented players,” said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing.   “We’re bringing Call of Duty’s massive player community together with the increasingly popular eSports movement.  This is a great moment for the franchise, but also for eSports as a whole, which is only going to get bigger and better moving forward.”

For months these 32 teams have been engaged in intense training and fierce competition, qualifying via events conducted by Call of Duty®: Black Ops II in-game League Play, as well as through the professional competitive circuits of Major League Gaming (MLG), the Australian Cyber League (ACL), and the Electronic Sports League (ESL).  Teams like InFiDream from Asia, Epsilion.IRL from Ireland and Made in Brazil… from Brazil, will compete against such notable teams from North America as OpTic Gaming and Fariko.Impact.  The competition culminates in a livestreamed final match on Sunday, April 7.

“The Call of Duty Championship, presented by Xboxgenerated a tidal wave of interest of competitive play in Black Ops 2, and is the continuing realization of the studio’s eSports initiative for Call of Duty,” said Mark Lamia, Studio Head, Treyarch. “Whether it was through qualifying from within the game during our Season 3 of Leagues, or the other organized tournaments held throughout the world, we’ve  seen and qualified the best of the best to compete at the Championship, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to offer a truly international stage for our Call of Duty fans to experience just how thrilling Call of Duty competitive play is.”

The Call of Duty Championship, presented by Xbox begins with round-robin style pool play among eight groups of four teams.  The top two teams from each group will advance to a 16-team double elimination bracket, where the team who places first will take home $400,000 of the $1 million dollar prize pool.  The remaining seven teams will each take home prizes ranging from $200,000 for second place to $25,000 for eighth place.

Further details on the Call of Duty Championship, presented by Xbox, including full rules and regulations, Call of Duty: Black Ops II maps and modes for the tournament, livestream information, prizing distribution, and more are available here.