After years of fielding one of the best professional teams in Apex Legends and seeking to innovate the traditional competitive format, TSM is back with another Apex tournament that looks like it will shake up the competitive scene. The org announced the TSM Winter Royale tournament today, a third-party Apex endeavor with a whopping $100,000 prize pool.
Typically, most Apex tournaments outside of Apex Legends Global Series play have had limited prize pools, with many third-party tournaments maxing out at $10,000. The ALGS, meanwhile, boasts prize pools in the millions for its marquee ALGS LAN events. The Winter Royale is a good middle ground between those two prizes, promising enough money to attract attention from fans and players alike.
The new tournament comes on the heels of the 2022 TSM Apex Invitational, a mixed-team tournament with an interesting format that was first pioneered by former TSM coach Martin “gdolphn” Kristensen. Instead of inviting full teams to compete like most Apex tournaments, players were individually invited and teams were randomized in each game of the tournament, with each team getting a different mix of pro players and content creators each match.
After six games, the 18 players with the highest scores were put into a game of Control, where the Control leaderboard would determine the final standings. The format was fun and engaging as individual players competed both for themselves and for cash prizes in each game. Eventually, content creator MerrDawg took home top honors in the event, which also had a $100,000 prize pool.
It’s unclear what format the new Winter Royale tournament will take, but one thing remains certain: as player doubts and complaints swirl around Apex, TSM remains steadfast in its promotion of the game and desire to push the competitive scene forward.
The TSM Apex Legends Winter Royale will take place on Dec. 12.
