However, it’s nowhere near the biggest esports games in terms of viewership and prize pools yet, and it doesn’t look like that’s about to change. Thanks to the yearly tournaments and relatively stable viewership, we can conclude that World of Warcraft has an established esports scene. Identifying the obstacles to World of Warcraft esports Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment
WORLD OF WORLD OF WARCRAFT FULL
A $900,000 prize pool for a full year of Arena esports means that the winning teams can look at a few tens of thousands of dollars at most. Although the $900,000 Arena World Championship prize pool (which roughly translates to £650,000 ) seems substantial, it’s not that high compared to tier-one esports that award millions of dollars. The difference between WoW esports and the more popular games is further emphasised by the current World of Warcraft prize pools. This also means that World of Warcraft esports ranks far below games like League of Legends or Fortnite. These numbers are similar to or even below the peak viewership in previous years. Peak viewership for most of the individual matches ranges between 20,000 and 40,000, with the recent AWC Season 1 Finals peaking just below 20,000 (USA) and 14,000 (EU) viewers according to Esports Charts. Likewise, the Mythic Dungeon International tournament concluded the first season of its 5th edition in May, and will return for the second season in September.Īlthough AWC and MDI return every year, it doesn’t look like viewership has increased much. The event returned for its second season on July 31st. So, how is World of Warcraft esports doing in 2021? At the beginning of this year, Blizzard Entertainment started its 14th Arena World Championship event, which concluded its first season in May. RELATED: The humble beginnings of World of Warcraft esports The current state of World of Warcraft esports Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment As a result, teams have to work together and make tactical decisions to clear a dungeon within the time limit. It’s about ‘player versus environment (PvE)’ combat instead of player versus player battles. This new branch of World of Warcraft esports is different from the Arena. The biggest competitive World of Warcraft expansion arrived in 2017 with the introduction of the Mythic Dungeon Invitational tournament (later changed to Mythic Dungeon International). In the years that followed, the Arena system kept expanding with new maps, the introduction of leaderboards, and separate seasons.
As the name suggests, the Arena sends player teams to a separate combat area, where they would fight each other two vs two, three vs three, or five vs five. Although Battlegrounds allowed player teams to fight each other, it was the introduction of the Arena that paved the way towards a serious competitive WoW system. How is all this impacting future plans for World of Warcraft esports? Seventeen years after its release, can WoW still become a major esport? A short history of World of Warcraft esports Image credit: Blizzard EntertainmentĪlthough World of Warcraft initially launched with hardly any PvP elements, Blizzard Entertainment was quick to add a PvP Honour system - the first being Battlegrounds, and then the Arena. The response has also impacted World of Warcraft directly, and this has perhaps exacerbated talk of a ‘ WoW Exodus‘ in the midst of the rise of Final Fantasy XIV. The stories that have emerged so far are troubling, to say the very least.Ī piece published by the Washington Post on August 9th 2021 includes a comprehensive report of this. This ongoing lawsuit, filed on July 20th 2021, includes numerous allegations of harassment, gender-based discrimination and inequality. Then there’s the news of the lawsuit filed against the game’s developer, Activision Blizzard, by the California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH). RELATED: Is there a future for Minecraft esports? The latest addition to the storyline wasn’t received well (just take a look at the comments on the trailer ) and the World of Warcraft forums are full of player complaints. On top of that, it seems that WoW has faced a lot of criticism recently. However, World of Warcraft esports is still relatively small compared to other popular games.
Seventeen years after its release, World of Warcraft is still one of the most popular massive-multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG) in the world.
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