The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), together with its partner Newdin Contents, presented the official logo and tournament format of its latest sport’s property, the WBSC Virtual Cup.
Themed on baseball and softball with digital elements representing the speed of ball mixed with technology, the WBSC Virtual Cup logo will be a calling sign for baseball and softball fans around the world to participate in, as well as obtain the latest information about the ground breaking event.
“The WBSC Virtual World Cup event and logo is a genuine representation of our organisation today – dynamic, innovative and forward thinking – and can further inspire the baseball and softball community to come together on a new platform in a different format," WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari said: "We enter the virtual world with a project that is fully in line with the WBSC strategic goal about growing our sport and making it relevant in people’s lives and communities. I want to thank Newdin Content’s leadership for sharing our common vision and look forward to this event being the start of a long-standing, mutually beneficial partnership.”
"We are happy to hold the Virtual Cup with WBSC based on Strikezon's technology," Hong Jin-pyo, the CEO of Newdin Contents, said. "We hope that people around the world will fully experience the exciting joy of screen baseball through this tournament."
The WBSC Virtual Cup, which marks the WBSC’s first own eSport competition, will be open for participation to everybody. It will see baseball and softball fans pair-up and using Newdin’s ‘Strikezon’ state-of-the art technology at venues around the world as their virtual field-of-play.
The WBSC Virtual Cup will start in September and will take place across four countries with the final stage for November in in Korea.
The event will be composed of three stages: Opening Round, Super Round and World Finals. The Opening Round will be open for participation to all baseball and softball fans regardless of their level and experience and will be held across a number of different divisions, which are based on location. The top teams of each division will then compete in the Super Round to determine the division champions, who will advance to the World Finals – along with Wild Card picks – to compete for the first Virtual Cup title and prize money.
The WBSC plans to announce the full tournament schedule and regulations in July.
The WBSC and Newdin Contents agreed to a multi-year partnership to develop the WBSC Virtual Cup in order to further expand and connect the baseball and softball community around the world.
Newdin Contents, based in Seoul, Korea, engages in the sale of indoor screen sports simulators. The company is the owner of Strikezon, a screen baseball product which is successfully installed in over 130 locations in Korea and internationally.
