Following the release of Activision’s Call of Duty Warzone, the entire gaming community, content creators and streamers have been So, now the burning question remains, could Call of Duty Warzone esports be possible? Does Call of Duty Warzone have what it takes to become a competitive battle-royale?
First, we’ll have to understand why the previous ‘iteration’ of Blackout ‘failed’ to blow up. At first, it earned the attention of the community as names such as Ninja, Shroud, and DrDisrespect all had fun playing this brand new Call of Duty experience. However, this didn’t last long – why?
- Blackout was only available to those who purchased the €60 title of Black Ops 4: a title with no offline mode, a shaky multiplayer and Blackout acting as the only selling point – due to this, player base dwindled
- Black Ops 4 was not very successful in attracting from other titles for very long due to a lack of added content
- The competition was simply more competitive, had fresher content and was more accessible to the entire community
On account for each of these three points, Call of Duty Warzone has a massive opportunity to rise and become an esport in the near future. Why am I so confident? Well, here’s another list outlining the reasons why Call of Duty Warzone has a better chance at becoming an esport:
- The main game of Modern Warfare was an incredible success with multiple selling points: a strong Campaign and a beloved Multiplayer mode together with Spec Ops led to massive sales and a strong reach on the overall gaming community
- Call of Duty Warzone is available to absolutely everyone for free on all platforms – no shortage of accessibility here
- The competition is currently rather lackluster, as Fortnite and Apex are going through a little drought
These contrasts do put Warzone in a good spot. However, there are two final things to address. First off, it’s the fact that some things will need to change and be banned for competitive play – such as the addition of ‘killstreaks’ which aren’t earned by kills as they can be potentially game-breaking especially in the hands of professionals. Secondly, it’s the fact that Activision has already invested $6,000,000 into the Call of Duty League for Modern Warfare – I’m not sure as to how much more can be invested into the potential Warzone competitive scene.
Everything depends on how this coming week goes, how Activision interacts with the community and how the community reacts to the game. From what I can tell; it looks like Call of Duty Warzone esports is a contender to me.
