Apex Legends pro Sweetdreams had a lot to say about EA, from its spending for the pro scene to keeping things exciting for viewers. But do his statements have any substance?
On Oct. 24, Sweetdream and DNO’s LouStream discussed EA’s financial effect on Apex. Sweet and Lou agree EA shouldn’t need to spend more money on the prize pools for its tournaments but rather, spend the money on the tier-two teams that need it. Lou suggested financial aid for smaller teams to qualify for “org welfare” in the offseason.
EA pumps a ton of money into the prize pool for every ALGS tournament. Y3 ALGS Championship sat at $2 million with $600,000 going to first place winners. The problem with the ALGS is that it is often won by the same two tier-one orgs, TSM and Dark Zero. This leaves teams who perform incredibly well like BLVKHVND with little to develop in the break between each massive tournament.
To combat this problem, Sweetdreams suggested giving $500,000 to tier-two teams for growth, rather than increasing the overall prize pool. The long list of how EA spends its pro scene money is as follows: prize pool, caster and staff pay, and team expenses (travel and accommodation).
Sweet said the real reason Apex is still alive and able to bring viewers/players to the game is because of the ALGS. The “social presence and publicity” of Apex is the most important factor, Sweet said, for people picking up the game and playing it.
But when you look at the Oct. 24 Apex trailer for season 19, fans in the comments look for a Titanfall 3 announcement rather than show any form of genuine excitement for a new season. Pre-existing map changes and a new legend added every two seasons “is not going to cut it,” Sweet said.
Sweetdreams briefly hit on viewer burnout for Twitch streaming. With CS:GO as an example of a game that is only popularized by its pro scene, CS:GO and Apex repeat their content with few changes for each season. Concurrent views and hours watched are on a steady decline on Twitch but what can be done to bring life back into this battle royale game?
If Sweetdreams were given a blank check from EA, he’d put it into weekly Apex tournaments. These would include players from all around the world, not exclusive to those already in the pro scene. Ranked play continues to bring cheaters with the Lifeline exploit, and bores its playerbase with repetitive content. A weekly tournament would see the 760,000 viewers who showed up at the ALGS Y3 Championship finals try their luck at winning their own tournament.
