CEVO announces Season 4 of their Dota 2 League

This article was originally published on GameSpot's sister site onGamers.com, which was dedicated to esports coverage.

The CEVO Season 3 Finals are nearing as the Peruvian team Union Gaming will face the lower bracket winner on January 30, 2014. The winner will take home $750.

With the season almost over, CEVO has announced their Season 4 plans with a prize pool increase from $1,000 to $4,000 for the Main division, and $1,000 for the Open division. Season 4 will include a 2 week preseason and an 8 week regular season, followed by a double elimination playoff bracket.

Top placing teams in Main will advance to a new Season 5 Professional division, while top placers in Open will advance to Main next season. In addition to the guaranteed prize pool, CEVO plans to introduce a new crowdfunding platform to directly increase the prize. onGamers has learned that the crowdfunding functionality will be included on the website, giving users the opportunity to donate directly to a specific game's prizes. A donation to CEVO Dota 2 leagues would send 75% to the Main prize pool and 25% to Open.

Chris Pipher, General Manager of CEVO.com on CEVO's Dota 2 ambitions:

"We're excited to be able to provide a free-to-play online Dota 2 league where teams can compete in multiple events throughout the year, and as they improve, move up through the ranks of our various skill divisions.

We've seen tremendous growth over our last three seasons, and with a substantial increase in our guaranteed prize pool in Season 4, we're hoping to continue that momentum as we work towards our goal of establishing CEVO as the place to compete for North American Dota 2 players of any skill level."

Registration for CEVO Season 4 opens today, with free registration until February 17. The default server is USEast, but registration is open to North America, South America, and Europe alike.