This is the true meaning of Apex Legends’ ALGS Multiplayer Mode

Apex Legends Global Series is the pinnacle of Apex Legends; The best players in the world compete for money and glory. Honestly, mostly glory, but also a bit of cash on the side, for the Qualifiers. The Playoffs Split 1 kicked off last weekend, seeing Team Singularity win South America and the controversial DreamFire ​​win a nine-match thriller in the South APAC region.

There’s more action this weekend, as the most popular regions jostle for $250,000 each. However, EA today announced that it is using a new way to watch tournaments, called Multiview, which will launch on Twitch for EMEA and North American tournaments later this week. Don’t worry, we’ll get to APAC North later.

Related: Is Apex Legends Esports match point format fit for purpose?

Multiview allows viewers to select up to four player POVs to watch online and listen to their communications. Tracking the action in battle royale is always a difficult task, so this will either push viewers to do a better job of tracking things than the official team or will allow fans of the teams specifically follow their team no matter how boring the looting takes place or how long the rotation is.

Of course, this is already an option if you watch your favorite streamer. Of course, not everyone streams tournaments, but TSM’s Phillip ‘ImperialHal’ Dosen regularly draws larger numbers to his POV than the official one. PlayApex stream no. Does Multiview mode pull viewers from the player’s stream and onto the official broadcast? It’s hard to say, but the anonymity of the kill feed suggests that this can happen.

For those unfamiliar with the other big change to the Match Point system, the kill feed is now anonymized. This has a lot of consequences, mainly teams around Qualify for head-to-head points and usually get upset as soon as their names appear in the feed, but now player POV streams will provide less information than the main broadcast. Coupled with the fact that you can now follow your favorite team on the main stream (and potential competitors as well), this seems to be the best option to watch if you want the most information and experience. . As with group communication, viewers who prefer to hide the official commentary are also catered for.

As revolutionary for Apex Legends and battle royale e-sports, it’s worth thinking about how EA sees its players and teams in all of this. The company obviously wants to attract more viewers to its own stream to please advertisers and partners, but these changes could pull viewers away from competing players, if not some people won’t have ALGS.

On the other hand, allowing viewers to customize their experience benefits those who’ve watched the official stream – and potentially illuminates lesser-known players and teams if viewers are browsing POVs. Ultimately, it’s hard to know exactly how Multiview will impact overall viewership ahead of time, and it’s at least a welcome addition for PlayApex channel loyalists.

What’s more concerning than the split viewership, however, is the concentration on two of the five regions. Why was Multiview not recruiting for the South America and South APAC regions last weekend and why is this program not available for the North APAC region this weekend? There is a clear difference in that the tournaments are streamed live on partner channels such as Long shot and BBLesports, but why isn’t Twitch’s Command Center available to everyone? And why are regions outside of NA and EMEA still not airing on the PlayApex channel? ALGS Commissioner John Nelson has told me in the past that other regions have the option to stream on the PlayApex channel but choose not to, even though the visibility may bring them. EA did not respond to Multiview’s request for comment on NA and EMEA exclusivity during the time of publication.

Apex Legends’ NA/EMEA-focused broadcasts cause some conflict within the community, and the addition of Multiview to just these streams could increase animosity between fans of each region. A skeptic might suggest that hostility could be encouraged ahead of the hopeful return of LAN events to Split 2’s Playoffs to create an interesting atmosphere, but I think that’s the case. too far a distance.

Apex Legends’ Multiview Stream will be a fun experiment to watch and certainly a great experience for fans who choose to use it. However, EA needs to think about its players and the broader region if it wants to create a unified and sustainable eSports – another set of Twitch Drops insufficient.

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