Year 2 of the Apex Legends Global Series is now over. With the culmination of the ALGS Championship Finals, we finally saw the full release of Apex esports with the big-money, high-stakes LAN event played in front of a live audience to crown the inaugural ALGS World Champion.
Apex Legends esports has quickly become a personal favorite to watch, especially at a time when my interest in a few FPS esports has waned. EA is slowly building ALGS in the age of COVID and got their hands on a really cool product that really shines on this final day of the Championships. However, there was one major flaw that could not be overlooked, and that was an unacceptable number of qualified players and coaches who missed part or all of the tournament due to positive COVID tests or visa issues.
According to Liquipedia, 15 qualified players or coaches were unable to attend this year’s championships in Raleigh, North Carolina due to visa issues. This includes Team Empire’s all-Russian roster, which was eventually replaced by AYM Esports, and two players from the other three teams.
Then came COVID. Positive COVID tests, both before and during the tournament, led to the abandonment of a total of 17 players and one coach. This led to some teams hiring a coach or team manager to play at the last minute, while others had no choice but to play as a duo.
As you probably saw then, the actors were extremely vocal that’s about it – especially when Sunday’s two finalists couldn’t compete when COVID tests showed that dreaded second line.
— Apex Legends Esports (@PlayApexEsports) July 8, 2022
In total, 17 of the 40 qualified teams experienced some sort of disruption due to visa issues or positive COVID tests – a pretty staggering number. While there are hardly any post-COVID esports events that have not been affected to some degree by the virus or visa issues, few have experienced disruption on this scale.
While the incredible action in the finals and DarkZero’s incredible Match Point victory quickly wiped it all out, I can’t help but think the ALGS might be lucky to get away with it without a plus great disaster.
As the previous LAN event in Stockholm had also had some start-up issues with travel costs and IT functionality, ALGS’s online training in the COVID era naturally seems to have led to a lack of experience in the accommodation of these species. .
I’m really excited about the future of Apex esports – it has an amazing streaming package thanks to Multiview and superb live streaming capabilities; they have great personalities representing great organizations; the spectator is in a healthy place; it has an extremely passionate community, and the game itself has a huge player base to tap into…the list could go on.
However, ALGS must learn from their LAN experience for Year 3 of the competition to reach their full potential.
The ceiling in esports is huge, but if what happened in Raleigh happens again, the roof could crumble. And when I look at how some of my other favorite esports have performed over the past few years, I really think, for the truth I don’t want that to happen to Apex Legends.
Source : The Load Out
