The SMITE World Championships are taking place January 7-10 next year, and they will include a team from the Oceania qualifying region. On top of that, the Regional Finals for SMITE will take place at PAX Australia, held in Melbourne from October 30 to November 1 this year, and teams will compete for a $50,000 prize pool.

SMITE is a free-to-play Multiplayer Online Battle Arena game created by Hi-Rez Studios. Played from the third perspective, the game puts a little more emphasis on aim than its contemporaries like Heroes of the Storm and DOTA 2.

With this announcement today, the path to the SMITE World Championship begins as eight teams enter the Oceania Pro League. The teams which qualified for the Invitational Pro League are,

Avant Garde
Dire Wolves
Citadel Gaming
Too Edgy
Team Kamikaze
Lore Gaming
Synapse
Silicon Sports

From July 20 the Challenger League will begin, and the top eight teams from this Win/Loss Ladder style tournament will compete against the bottom four teams from the Invitational Pro League for final seeding in the Regional Championships at PAX Australia.

The winners of the Oceania Regional Championships are also guaranteed travel and participation at the World Championships next year, where they will compete for a $1 million prize pool.

The injection of funds into the local eSports scene from game creators is pretty uplifting. First Blizzard brought $25,000 to the table for Heroes of the Storm, and now Hi-Rez is putting $50,000 into the mix.