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Call of Duty is just one of the esports competitions to bet on. Like others, it hasn’t been spared the effects of the novel COVID 19 pandemic.
In an effort to pivot in these trying times, Activision Blizzard decided to make some changes to its Call of Duty League’s (CDL) Championship Weekend. Players who were used to playing in-person events all around the world have had to get accustomed to online-only play.
However, this new change didn’t include the new game mode that’s been proving popular with the global gaming community – Warzone – until recently.
Warzone is a battle royale mode that players can play as a free-to-play standalone game or as part of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.
On Sunday May 24th 2020, the league decided to include this mode in the weekend’s event. This move presented the league officials with a chance to gauge the success of the mode as well as how effective it can be in increasing the popularity of the new Call of Duty esports ecosystem.
More Teams to Face Off for the Grand Prize
The league also made changes to the number of teams involved in playing each weekend. Instead of pitting eight teams against each other, 12 four-person teams face off for the grand prize of $10,000 in the winner-take-all competition.
Each team roster consists of three players from each organisation, with the option of either adding the fourth player from their Call of Duty squad or by inviting a non-CDL player from the community. Additionally, the league gives byes to the first two seeds in the tournament.
League Incentivizes Viewership
All events are broadcasted exclusively on YouTube, where the league looks to take advantage of the some 882,000 subscribers it has amassed and the 139.5 million views. For any gaming product, viewership can obviously act as a great indicator of what the fans think about the game, and things have been largely positive so far.
The league also launched a new viewer incentive program that will start during the season’s final half. Fans who are avid viewers of CDL live competitions will be able to unlock in-game rewards, such as team emblems, animated player cards and sprays.
The Challenge of Lag Affecting Gameplay
However, the choice to move to an online-only play format has come with its challenges. The league has drawn criticism from players concerning its poor server performance in its online-only setup in comparison to its lag-less LAN format. Some players cited that lag was unfair for them as they observed different server response times, which had an impact on their gameplay.
The league was fast enough to respond to these complaints by adding its server count and adding more server backups across multiple locations. It has also been testing its gaming platform to ensure that lag is reduced. Players have been observing changes to the gaming platform week after week, and the complaints have been reducing over time.
Activision Blizzard has proved that their product can be resilient during such trying times. CDL’s regular-season event weekends, which are scheduled through July 26th, continue to garner more viewership as more people spend their time at home.
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