GLL and Series E face off in prime time while Legion Royale joins the third-party scene
This is The Final Circle, a newsletter about the development of a sustainable esports ecosystem
Audio adjustments
After wide-ranging complaints about game audio and silence (no pun intended) from Respawn on the issue, Apex is getting “audio adjustments” today. The game audio has been iffier than usual since the release of Season 7, so here’s to hoping things will improve with this patch.
Respawn’s vague language and seeming reluctance to discuss bugs in their game is still maddening, particularly in comparison with a company like Riot and their vastly different approach to communication—direct, timely and specific:
Esports Arena or GLL?
If you want to watch any competitive Apex tonight, you’ll have to pick: Esports Arena Series E hosts its weekly pro tournament, while the GLL finishes up its Community Cup #19 at the same time. This is problematic for both players and viewers. Many pro squads appear to be contractually obligated to appear in the Series E pro day, whether it’s through the ALGS partnership with its member orgs or some other arrangement, leaving them unable to compete in the GLL tournament even if they wanted to.
Neither are high-stakes, with prize pools of $500, so lost income for players isn’t the issue. But it does show a surprising lack of cooperation at the grassroots level of this ecosystem.
CLG’s Madness, at least, saw the scheduling mishap as a deliberate provocation: “They literally changed the GLL schedule because of Series E,” he told his viewers.
The GLL Community Cup schedule for North America has indeed changed so that it overlaps with the ESA Series E pro day, but it’s unclear what GLL would gain with such an arrangement—needlessly splitting talent to spite a competitor doesn’t seem very likely to me.
UPDATE (11/19/20):
Though the finals of the Community Cup were scheduled to coincide with Series E, GLL has postponed it to tonight (Thursday, 11/19). Despite this, as redditor Canadauni1 pointed out, Team Liquilelie and TSM have been banned from this week’s GLL because they dropped out thinking they wouldn’t be able to compete in the finals because of the scheduling conflict. Unless the ban is lifted due to this understandable confusion, neither team will play in the Community Cup tonight.
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Legion Royale and single-game lobbies
Meanwhile, Lenovo, the offical PC sponsor of the ALGS, has waded into Apex with their own third-party tournament offering, the Legion Royale. They’ve already hosted an APAC tournament and introduced an interesting new format: single-game lobbies. With three games per day and payouts down to third place in each single game, it represents a drastically different approach than the 6-8 game per day, multi-day formats of other tournaments with similar prize pools (1st place gets $300, 2nd place, $180, and 3rd place $120 in each game). I think it has the potential to be both less of a slog for players and more exciting for viewers, since every game has its own stakes. Would love to hear what others think about this format! Let me know in the comments.
Claraphi quits Apex
Finally, Claraphi, the 21st ranked player in North America by ALGS points, is quitting Apex for now. You can read the full text of his retirement announcement here, which includes a mention of audio issues on the new map. Since a hot streak with Sola Fide early this year, his squad was coming up with consistently decent results, but not enough to make it worth his while. We wish him all the best.
I’ll be back this weekend for a special issue discussing the upcoming ALGS Autumn Circuit #4, with qualifiers this Saturday and finals on Sunday and Monday. Until then!
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