Call of Duty Mobile Summer 2026 Major begins with $266,373 prize pool

Call of Duty Mobile’s Summer 2026 Major opened with 15 teams, a prize pool listed at $266,373, and a schedule that runs from Stage 1 on June 24 through Aug. 22. The event is being staged in China in an online-and-offline format under Tencent Games and TiMi Esports, with the opening phase immediately setting the tone for the rest of the bracket.

Stage 1 matters because it is not a warm-up round. The 15 teams are split into two groups and play a single round-robin, and every match is Round3, so all three maps are played regardless of how quickly a series is decided. That format makes the first days of the Major unusually unforgiving, since early points shape who advances into the later stages and who is forced out of the title race before the event really opens up.

The money and the calendar both underline why this Major carries more weight than a routine regional stop. Liquipedia lists the prize pool at ¥1,800,000 CNY, which comes out to about $265,076, while EGamersWorld places it at $266,373. Either way, the purse keeps COD Mobile’s competitive circuit sizable enough to stand on its own, and the event remains the most important Chinese competition for the game, a role it has held since its introduction in 2021.

The 2026 season also gives the Summer Major a larger job than simply crowning a winner. Activision’s esports pages say this is the first CODM season built around Summer Split and Fall Split, plus a dedicated World Championship Points System, and the road to the World Championship begins in-game with Solo Qualifier and Team Qualifier before moving into the official seasonal splits. That means the Major sits inside a broader qualification ladder, not outside it.

The structure after Stage 1 raises the stakes again. Activision’s esports settings say matches from Stage 2 through the World Championship Finals use best-of-5, and the esports map pool is updated each year by vote from World Championship Finals participants. With Warzone Mobile servers already offline as of April 17, 2026, Call of Duty: Mobile’s live competitive scene has become an even clearer mobile pillar for the franchise.

The opening on June 24 did more than launch a bracket. It started the path toward a World Championship system built on splits, points and pressure, with every early result in China carrying forward into the rest of the Summer 2026 Major.