Also donates money to charity.
Continue reading “Old School RuneScape Crowns Latest Deadman Tournament Winner”
Tag: Tournament
Jagex Will Hold Old School RuneScape Charity Tournament
Starts Friday, May 1 in Deadman Mode.
Continue reading “Jagex Will Hold Old School RuneScape Charity Tournament”
In A Christmas Miracle: Z1 Battle Royale Population Spikes
In a post-Christmas miracle, Z1 Battle Royale has received the breath of life from…someone somewhere. At least it’s a lot more lively than it has been.
Z1BR’s death has been slow cooking in the crockpot of Steam’s lavatory for the last seven months or so, so it’s all the more surprising that the last few days have seen the population spike. Insanely spike. I’m talking hitting peaks of nearly six thousand concurrent players if you bothered to read the header image in this article. All this from a game that wasn’t . What gives?
A tournament. With Twitch streamers.
This Friday (1/17), a tournament is going to take part in H1Z1 with a lot of the big streamers from back in H1Z1’s heyday…except Ninja. The attention of streamers has brought people back into the game to take part in the scrimmages that have been going on this week, and it has breathed a bit of life back into the mostly dead title.
Will Z1 hold its traffic up after the tournament is over? Only time will tell.
Source: Steam Charts,
Community Concerns: The Importance of Reading Comprehension
Yea, we’re still talking about Blizzcon.
It’s been a while since I talked about the whole nontroversy surrounding Blizzard and the prize pool for World of Warcraft’s Blizzcon tournaments, so I will sum up for those who don’t feel like clicking the link in this paragraph. Blizzard sold digital toys with 25% proceeds going toward a prize pool with a guaranteed minimum of $500k, and some people interpreted this as Blizzard footing $500k and then the toy sale portion being on top of that. In fact, a lot of people with direct financial incentives to the prize pool being bigger happened to think that. Crazy.
One of those people is Shanna Roberts, general manager of the esports team Method. Roberts released a statement yesterday (November 10) to talk about a breakdown in trust between Blizzard and the community because a number of people didn’t correctly read the plain English of the promotion. Roberts claims that Blizzard announced that the $500k minimum would be supplemented by 25% sales from the toys (they didn’t). I’ll put up the plain language of the promotion for your perusal:
“For a limited time, every purchase of the Transmorpher Beacon or Lion’s Pride and Horde’s Might Fireworks, 25% of the proceeds will contribute toward the year’s finals LAN event prize pool for the Arena World Championship (AWC) and the Mythic Dungeon International (MDI) with a guaranteed minimum prize pool of $500,000 USD ($250,000 USD for each event.) Your support will help take the WoW esports prize pool to the next level.”
25% of proceeds contributed toward the year’s finals with a guaranteed minimum of $500k. The misinterpretation is then followed up by conspiracy-level speculation that Blizzard deliberately backtracked on something they never said they would do to ensure that Warcraft’s prize pool wasn’t bigger than any of the other big tournaments which has no logical conclusion and would have absolutely no benefit for Blizzard.
“It is my personal hypothesis that this is exactly what caused the backtracking: Blizzard couldn’t allow AWC or MDI to have bigger individual prize pools than Hearthstone Grandmasters, OW World Cup, or SC2.”
Roberts goes on to complain about how the practice facility was only open for one day and didn’t provide adequate snacks or comfortable chairs, and how the opening rounds were held offline thus preventing players from using the streams to make money because it turns out being a WoW pro player doesn’t pay like a full time job. Who would have thought?
I’m not going to fault Shanna Roberts for doing her job which is to get her team more money.
If she had hired MMO Fallout’s Master Gaming Consultancy since I read the announcement when it came out and could have fully explained it to her and any other esports folks who were confused, this matter might have been resolved pretty quickly and we wouldn’t be here today. I have eleven years experience writing about video games and my flat fee is two grand per month which is frankly a deal since I’m not going to torpedo your business like what happened with that Sunset game.
Otherwise I think I’m done talking about Blizzcon 2019.
[NM] For Honor Exploit Costs Ubisoft $10,000 After Ignoring Major Game Balance Issues
It’s a tale that sounds tailor made for news headlines, but at a recent tournament held by Ubisoft for For Honor, the grand prize of $10 thousand ultimately went to contestants who played, dare we say it, dishonorably. The Hero Series is an effort by Ubisoft to bring players back to its fighting game For Honor, following reports of heavily dwindling population numbers on PC and console. This weekend, the Hero Series held its live finals from Burbank California, broadcast live on Twitch.
Unfortunately the tournament went off with numerous hitches, with players making use of and widely publicizing just how many bugs and balance issues still remain in For Honor six months after launch, including one player repeatedly, from repeatedly using an unblockable charge move to a player taking advantage of a bug to knock down his opponent on a small incline. Viewers criticized the fact that many of the exploits/bugs on display have been an issue ignored for months by Ubisoft, as well as the perceived flippant response from its Creative Director in presenting the champion award. The exploit used to win the tournament, which takes advantage of a bug when a player unlocks from his target on swing, causing his attacks to become unparryable. According to players, this has been in the game since virtually day one.
For a competitive fighting game, For Honor can only suffer from Ubisoft allowing exploits to win the day at its tournament. Since its launch in February, For Honor’s population on Steam has plummeted from an average of 28,000 to an average of just over two thousand over the past month. Ubisoft has referred to reports of a declining user base as “fake news,” despite the public availability of user data for players on Steam.
H1Z1 Hits TwitchCon With Another Tournament
H1Z1 will be back at TwitchCon 2017, with a brand new tournament at this year’s conference. Steadily the most viewed event at TwitchCon since it first came on the scene in 2015, the three tournament event runs from October 20 through 22 with a prize pool of $500,000.
“H1Z1 has pioneered the massive arena shooter genre and proved that large-scale esports is possible,” said Anthony Castoro, H1Z1 General Manager. “The H1Z1 Invitational has grown and evolved over the years. As H1Z1’s popularity has increased, so has demand for this type of programming, and this new 3-tournament format allows us to be inclusive of more players and provide a weekend full of content to viewers at home.”
You can find more information, as well as sign up for your chance at the money pit, at the link below.
(Source: H1Z1)
Fight For The Crown: $300k H1Z1 Tournament Coming
Daybreak Game Company has announced that the next big tournament for H1Z1: King of the Kill with a prize pool of three hundred grand for those willing to throw their hat into the ring. The tournament comes alongside a documentary on eSports to be aired on the CW, culminating in the 75-person tournament. First prize nets $180 grand of that total. In order to qualify, you’ll need to set up a team and ensure each player is qualified by ranking on the Twin Galaxies leaderboard.
H1Z1: Fight for the Crown is a six-part esports docuseries coming this spring to The CW Network, with the finale featuring the first ever 5-man H1Z1: King of the Kill tournament! The 75-person tournament will feature 15 elite teams of five, including Echo Fox, Rogue Gaming, Panda Global and Denial Esports, all competing for their share of a $300,000 prize pool.
Information regarding signing up is available at the page below.
(Source: H1Z1)
Old School RuneScape Goes Hardcore With Summer Tournament
RuneScape has never been a name in the competitive gaming scene, but Jagex is hoping to change this with a tournament pitting Old School’s top clans against one another. Set to take place over three days from the 24th to the 26th of July, eight teams of five players will fight in three separate competitions. The event is meant to highlight coming updates to Old School, including slayer bosses, pvp modes, and more.
“This summer, we can’t wait to adapt Old School RuneScape for the eSports community and watch teams battle their way to victory in this inaugural $10,000 competitive tournament,” said Mathew Kemp, product manager on the game. “We’re also looking forward to seeing how players tackle the unrelenting challenge of Deadman Mode later in the summer, as well as seeing how they shape up against the two new slayer boss monsters.”
Both Old School and RuneScape 3 are in the middle of a summer of updates, with players in the latter presently embroiled in a month-long world event. Stay tuned for more details.
(Source: Jagex press release)
Guild Wars 2 Tournaments Dish Out the Dosh
Do you have what it takes to make it big in Guild Wars 2? If so, there might just be a financial incentive in it for you. With esports becoming bigger every year, the diversity and breadth of tournaments has only gotten bigger. Arenanet has posted an update on the Guild Wars 2 website detailing just a few of these tournaments and how you can get into them.
Most of the tournaments reward players with a heaping helping of gold and gems, but the Go4GuildWars2 cup is doling out one thousand dollars every Sunday to the top players, with the best of the best going on to play for a fifty grand prize pool.
You can find the details for all of the tournaments at the link below.
(Source: Guild Wars 2)
Fiesta Online €10k Contest
Gamigo is celebrating twenty million level ups with a competition in Fiesta Online. Taking place on the new global server, players are tasked with leveling a character up to 100 by June 22nd. All characters who successfully level up will be entered into a draw for €5 thousand and a massive fan package. Cash prizes are also available for first and second place runner ups. In addition, €500, 50,000 Talers, and an in-game costume will be awarded for side-contests.
“20 million level-ups and the first global server — if that isn’t a reason to celebrate, I don’t know what is. With this world-class event, we want to thank all Fiesta players around the globe, and also challenge all future players to a tournament.”
-Jens Knauber (Game Director)
Check out more details at the link below.
(Source: Gamigo Press Release)
MMO Fallout 