The Royal Navy Video Gaming and Esports Association at the CODE Bowl 2022

The Royal Navy Video Gaming and Esports Association took to the skies as they flew over the atlantic to face off against UK and US forces in the annual Call of Duty Endowment Bowl (or CODE Bowl) 2022. Hosted on December 16th in Raleigh, not the one so many of us know and love from day one.. but Raleigh, North Carolina.

The Call of Duty Endowment is a non-profit organisation that seeks to help UK and US veterans find high quality careers by supporting groups that prepare them for the job market and to raise awareness of the value that veterans bring into the workplace.

CODE Bowl is an annual competition hosted by the makers of Call of Duty, Activision. The competitors are made up of service members from military esports teams. Each branch of service is invited to enter two teams comprised of two military service members who are paired with an esports professional. This year’s competition included teams from the US and the UK with winners taking home the championship trophy and bragging rights.

Last year’s competition was won by the US Space Force who took the CODE Bowl II trophy to space!

The competition was run on the Warzone 2.0 game released earlier in the year. During the event, branches were split into two trios for four mini Battle Royales to be the last team standing. 

Team Royal Navy (The Krakens) brought five players, led by Captain Dylan Tree, Chris Davidson, Brandon Fice, James Park and substitute player Michael Duff.

The matches were extremely close fought, with the US Space Force and US Air Force opening strongly. An extremely consistent play style and a British Army victory in match four meant that the Royal Air Force won the tournament with a massive score of 87.3 points across the four matches. 

The Royal Navy were fierce competitors but unfortunately finished in last place. The final score notwithstanding, it was an incredible competition that allowed the team to meet and socialise with like-minded people from across two nation’s militaries.

The association’s Chair Gordon Jones said, “We’re proud to be representing the Royal Navy at CODE Bowl and we cannot wait to come back next year fiercer and more formidable. We have our eyes firmly set on next year’s trophy and look forward to the challenge once again.”