Why Activision won’t miss E3: Call of Duty XP fan event returns September 2

Activision announced today that it will hold its second-ever Call of Duty XP fan event on September 2 and September 3. The event will include the finals for the Call of Duty World League, an esports event with more than $2 million in prizes.

This will be the second time that the company has held a major Call of Duty fan event, and the last one was in 2011. This explains in part why Activision Blizzard dropped its booth at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), the big game trade show in Los Angeles next week. XP will clearly cost millions of dollars. You could think of it like the PAX fan event, but all about Call of Duty.

Unlock premium content and VIP community perks with GB M A X!
Join now to enjoy our free and premium perks.

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.