EA takes a cue from Valve, will crowdfund the Apex Legends Championship prize pool

Electronic Arts has unveiled plans to crowdfund this year's Apex Legends Global Series Championship to as much as $3 million through the sale of item bundles that will be available for purchase for a limited time.

Four different bundles will be offered for sale—Mechameleon, Boared to Death, Wild Speed, and Silverback—for 2500 Apex Coins a pop, each with a Legendary Legend Skin, one Epic Banner Frame and one Epic Gun Charm. For collectors who want them all, the Animal Kingdom bundle will put them all together for 9000 Apex Coins, a 10% discount on the separate purchase price.

Mechameleon Bundle:

• 1 Legendary Pathfinder Skin: Mechameleon
• 1 Epic Banner Frame: Change of Colour
• 1 Epic Gun Charm: Ancient Guardian

Boared to Death Bundle:

• 1 Legendary Fuse Skin: Boared to Death
• 1 Epic Banner Frame: Wild Swine
• 1 Epic Gun Charm: Steely Swine

Wild Speed Bundle:

• 1 Legendary Octane Skin: Wild Speed
• 1 Epic Banner Frame: Wild Spirit
• 1 Epic Gun Charm: Cyber Cheetah

Silverback Bundle:

• 1 Legendary Caustic Skin: Silverback
• 1 Epic Banner Frame: King of the Jungle
• 1 Epic Gun Charm: Hanging In There

The bundles aren't cheap: 3,000 Apex Coins, the closest amount to 2,500 that you can purchase, will set you back $30 on Origin, while the 10,000 coin bundle is $100. (You can buy 9,000 for $90 but once you're up to that price you might as well spring for extra tenner and get the bonus.) EA will add $5 to the ALGS Championship prize pool for each individual bundle sold, and $20 for every Animal Kingdom collection, to a cap of $2 million above the $1 million base—potentially adding up to a $3 million total prize pool.

If this all sounds oddly familiar, you're likely thinking about The International, the annual Dota 2 championship tournament that crowdfunds its prize pools through sales of the International Battle Pass. The scale of The International far outstrips that of the ALGS—the 2019 prize pool exceeded $34 million, and the upcoming International 10 is over $40 million—but this is also the first time that EA has tried such a thing with Apex Legends. The first crowdfunded prize pool for The International in 2013 was on a very similar scale, reaching $2.9 million, but it ballooned the next year to nearly $11 million. I'm sure EA would love to see a similar sort of takeoff for its own big esports event.

The ALGS Championship bundles are on sale now and will be available until June 1. The tournament kicks off on May 22 and runs until June 13.