Ubisoft's Just Dance Franchise Becomes an eSport

Competition has always been a part of Ubisoft's popular Just Dance series, but now the game is making even more moves in the competitive gaming space. Ubisoft has announced a partnership with the Electronic Sports World Cup (ESWC) to add Just Dance to the eSports tournament.

Just Dance becomes the first-ever casual title featured in the ESWC. Other games included in this year's tournament include eSports mainstays like Call of Duty: Ghosts, Counter Strike: Global Offensive, and FIFA 14.

"For the 11th edition of the ESWC, we are very proud to widen the definition of eSport with Ubisoft," ESWC founder Matthieu Dallon said in a statement on the Ubisoft Blog. "Competitive gaming has to welcome all kind of players, has to be developed in partnership with the games publishers, and has to showcase the most advanced technologies which link the body to the game. Just Dance is for ESWC the perfect medium to reach those goals."

The 2014 ESWC takes place in late October, but qualifying tournaments will kick off starting this summer. Once the preliminary rounds are over, the top 20 players will make the trip to Paris Games Week to compete in the tournament itself. Full details on how to qualify for the Just Dance tournament at the 2014 ESWC are available at the tournament's website.

"As soon as you put Just Dance on a stage, the crowd starts dancing spontaneously," Ubisoft eSports manager Jean-Baptiste Pennes said. "This is really inspiring to us and reflects the fact that dancing is a show as much as it brings people together. Competitive gaming shares the same goal, so we decided to partner with ESWC and create an official discipline with a very accessible show for everyone to feel the thrill of eSport."

During E3 2014 earlier this month, Ubisoft announced two new Just Dance games. Just Dance 2015 is this year's installment in the series for consoles, while Just Dance Now is a free dancing game for mobile devices that Ubisoft imagines could allow an entire stadium full of people to dance together to the same song.