Teamfight Tactics isn’t my mom’s favorite son, Riot Games, but if the World Cup in Alicante taught us anything, things are about to change. To understand the present and above all the future of TFT esports, we flew to Spain to see behind the scenes of the competition because there is so much new to come.
Unfortunately World Cup dragon land (the last set before the new Monsters Attack) took place online and not in the presence of players, a choice we didn’t quite understand. That didn’t stop Riot Games from filling an entire television studio in the hills of Alicante with a 5,000-square-foot set to house presenters and analysts.
in this Exclusive to Teamfight Tactics WorldsHowever, we won’t just talk about the competition, because in between the event we had the opportunity to meet the people responsible for the sporting future of the game at Riot Games. We had to read between the lines, but the developer’s intent is clear, and it absolutely contradicts the way he’s handled competitions so far.
Clash of strategists
TFT is not a MOBA and not a card game but a great mix of the two. genus to which it belongs, self chess, explains its appeal very well: living the fantasy of playing with chess pieces that come to life and fight to the last piece. Witnessing the struggle of the world’s best players once again confirmed the power of this export, which chose the world champion during the 3-day competitions. 32 players from all over the world (5 from Europe, one of the most represented regions) competed against a new point system (8 for first, 7 for second, etc.). The first two days of battles saw a total of 10 matches, in which players divided into 4 lobbies struggled to collect as many points as possible. On the third day, the top 8 ranked played the final using the new control system.
After resetting the previous days’ score, the first of 8 finalists to score 18 points took control of the others, from where a single win would have been enough to become the world champion. It took five matches but finally, confirming the trend of the first two days of Chinese players dominating the table, XungGe to take home the world champion title and 150,000 of the $456,000 prize pool. Unfortunately, the win was somewhat out of climate, as the winner was on stage in China when he became world champion and the distance between the wheels, the announcers and the players was felt at the time. Michael Sherman, Head of Global Esports at TFT, wanted to reassure fans: “We’re actively exploring options for creating physical events because we know our fans want them – he said – we’re not yet ready to bring in LAN players but we can say there will be in-person events.”
“We will press the reset text”
Despite the relative success of this world championship with an average viewership of 18,000 on the official broadcast, Teamfight Tactics is at a crossroads that will determine the future of sports. Six months ago, when Michael Sherman accepted the role of TFT’s Global Head of Esports, he agreed with one condition: “To be able to hit the reset button. We rethought our mission to run TFT’s competitions. even more accessible so this will be one of the pillars we will build on.” Once the barrier to entry provided by the gameplay structure and many icons is overcome, Teamfight Tactics becomes a game that is as relaxing as it is competitive, and within this uniqueness, Riot wants to go out and create a niche of passionate gamers.
“In China,” Sherman continues, there is an open tournament for tens of thousands of players; it’s something we like, and it can come from us too. This is what I mean when I say I want the best. of each region to bring it to the global stage. 2023 will be the 1st year of TFT esports however, it will not be a year of radical change, let’s take Valorant esports for example, but it will be finalized next year and the game will be released in 2018. Teamfight Tactics is now starting its esports evolution and will be completed next year. 2/3 years. It was very easy to develop TFT, it took us 5 months, it took us 5 years to build Valorant. We always thought about esports when we were building it, but we’re still dealing with the ramifications of getting to market so quickly.”
an identity question
When we analyzed Teamfight Tactics in more depth on the occasion of these world championships, two things particularly impressed us: First, the game’s most played mode, competitive mode, and second, Riot’s support for tactics. common flow system. As an individual game, following a creator is much more intuitive than following a broadcast with 8 simultaneous matches. As such, collaborations and transfers from individual players/creators will be a core part of TFT’s new course. But the problem is more about identity than organization, because so many different ways have emerged in the world to experience the competitive side of Riot’s auto-chess.
“We immediately asked ourselves –” Sherman continues – “how can we create a clear identity for TFT esports?” I don’t think it is the right way to go in a homogeneous, global and harmonious direction. Of course, we want to make these competitions more popular, but we have to. special expectations When we look at Players for each region, we see how accessible the game is, with ranked matches being the most used mode, which is unique in our title pool. We want to make sure the ecosystem sticks to whatever motivates players to compete and thrive in Teamfight Tactics. We need more people to realize this vision, but before we hire them we need to understand which areas we need specific experience in.”
An esport for players more than spectators
The solution Riot is working on is to do Teamfight Tactics. an esport for gamers, prior to this, benefits from the accessibility of ranked mode and a new competition management system for spectators. We haven’t received direct confirmation, but we’ll likely see an “in-client” tournament organization system or directly in the game menu, as they will for Valorant. From this point of view, all the pieces presented so far fit together: the pervasive ecosystem, the low barrier to entry, the creators to familiarize yourself with, and the high-level competitions at the top of the pyramid, accessible to the most dedicated. If Riot really takes this approach base The competitive video game industry (thus dependent on its player and fan base) can only come out of this stronger.
Regarding the sustainability of these grand plans, Sherman said, “Our priority is participation, not revenue. We don’t want to spend our time hardening ourselves like we do in League because partners are putting barriers and limitations. Everything is getting tighter.” operations and you need to involve more stakeholders to change things. Partners are no longer our primary focus, and at Riot we are able to meet this move. I’m happy with the way TFT is going, I said to myself ‘intervention’ when I accepted this role. can’t adjust, need to rebuild and my aim make a revolution what people think about TFT esports”.
Source: Multiplayer
