What is going on with the Apex Legends Global Series North American Finals and will Battle Royale Ever Be A Successful eSport?
The Apex Legends Global Series which was perhaps meant to be a headline eSports event for Respawn Entertainment’s and EA’s Battle Royale in 2020 has undergone a significant transformation under the global circumstance and the LAN event has rather turned into a series of online tournaments.
Apex Legends Global Series North American Finals – Will Battle Royale Ever Be A Successful eSport? It Doesn’t Look Like It. As it goes that both the European and the American finals have taken place and it’s clear that are certain problems in the competitive scene.
Having won five tournaments over the past year, TSM did not make it to the NA ALGS Final as they didn’t qualify through the semi-finals. This incident left a void that had to be filled by the talented players, but despite having the potential for an exciting five-round series, the whole coverage of the games, and the state of the competitive meta itself is uninspiring as ever.
All of this started with the coverage of the games where there is a team of four shout casters, whose knowledge of the game pretty much varies from fairly knowledgeable to total newcomers. As a result, much of the intense action gets glossed over as the commentators discuss the ammunition, and in one case, bangers, and mash.
However, there is one memorable moment from the ALGS NA Final where ImMadnessCLG takes control of a fight, which is almost one-on-three, with a purple-bolt EVA-8. And, from team SKRT, Madness is an important and crucial player throughout the five-game series, but still, this fight is caught in glimpses as the screen happens to flick from the action to a team sat in a house some hundred meters away tea bagging a Wattson ultimate.
As the game approaches, it is noticeable that even though fights are taking place on the screen, but the commentators have no clue of what is going on, and even in some cases who is fighting. The whole perspective flicks between the downed players and the Peacekeepers as whoever is trying to make up their mind, and decide whom to spectate. The most interesting moments of the competitive games are only when you listen to the comms of the players themselves.
Apex Legends seems to have the most potential for eSports out of its genre. But of course, RNG plays an important and vital factor that involves the shields the players drop on, whether there is enough light ammo, and a lack of shield cells, etc. But the main leveler of skill lies in navigating the map, and utilizing the legend’s abilities to control the strategic positions, and also knowing when and when not to fight. TSM, who have been the champions five times in a row, would not have achieved that if it was some kind of a random mess.
Now, the question comes to the matter of competitive meta. There was one such team not running a Wattson, Pathfinder, Gibraltar, or Wraith, and they rather had a Caustic. So here comes the spoiler, the team with a Caustic did not perform well, despite giving a valiant effort, and the meta is stale.
Here much of the game play revolves around simply finding buildings to camp in, and for minutes of each game, there is no action on the screen.
So this raises the question, whether or not Apex Legends will ever be a successful eSport? Although EA gave a full dedication to the competitive scene with these online tournaments, the count of viewers and inane YouTube Live stream chat does not showcase a bountiful future for Apex.
Certain improvements need to be made to the coverage and some meta changes also need to be done to make the scene alive, especially with Valorant around the corner.
I am Jessica Gonzalez and i have over 16 years experience in the financial services industry giving me a vast understanding of how news affects the financial markets. She is an active day trader spending the majority of my time analyzing earnings reports and watching commodities and derivatives. I have a Masters Degree in Economics from Westminster University with previous roles counting Investment Banking.
