Apex Legends Global Series

Apex Legends Global Series
GameApex Legends
Founded2019
Owner(s)
CommissionerJohn Nelson[1]
CountryGlobal
Most recent
champion(s)		TSM
Official websitewww.ea.com/games/apex-legends/compete

The Apex Legends Global Series (ALGS) is a global competitive esports tournament series for the video game Apex Legends run by Electronic Arts and Respawn Entertainment. The series uses a promotion and relegation system throughout each season, culminating in the ALGS Championship. The ALGS was announced in 2019, with its inaugural season taking place in 2020–21.

Format

As of the 2021–22 season, the ALGS season format consists three phases: Split One, Split Two, and the ALGS Championship. Each split consists of a regular season, called the Pro League, and playoffs.[2]

Each split consists of a regional Pro League regular season in each of its five regions: North America, EMEA, APAC South, APAC North, and South America. A total of 40 teams in each region compete in their region's Pro League, with teams coming from online qualifiers and direct invites based on previous performance.[2] A total of 40 teams from the Pro Leagues then advance to the split playoffs.[a] After the conclusion of the Split Two playoffs, the top performing teams from playoffs, along with teams that advance through "Last Chance Qualifier tournaments", advance to the ALGS Championship match.[4]

History

Inaugural season

Main article: ALGS Year 1

In December 2019, Electronic Arts (EA) and Respawn Entertainment announced the first Apex Legends Global Series. The series was split up into total of 22 events over four phases, and each phase culminated in Major Events, the series' top-level events; the last Major of season, called the Apex Legends Global Series Championship, would determine the winner of the season. The first event of the season began in January 2020.[5][6] The first online qualifiers was marred by game crashes disconnecting players from the server, as well as bugs within the game itself. On March 6, the first major was indefinitely postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[7][8] On March 31, the season shifted to a completely online format and introduced a tournament structure change that included the introduction of new tournaments.[9] The ALGS Championship was divided into five separate championship matches by region — North America (NA), South America (SA), Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), Asia-Pacific North (APAC North), and Asia-Pacific South (APAC South).[10] The prize pool for the ALGS Championship was US$2.58 million, with $1 million initially contributed by EA, while rest came from sales of limited edition in-game skins.[11] The ALGS Championship began on June 1,[10] and the five regional champions of the season were Kungarna NA (North America), Paradox Esports (South America), Scarz Europe (EMEA), Fennel Korea (APAC North), and Wolfpack Arctic (APAC South).[12]

2021–22 season

For the second season of ALGS, the total prize pool was increased to $5 million. EA and Respawn shifted the series to a different format and expanded it to allow Xbox and PlayStation players to compete.[13] Viewership for the second season began slow, with an average viewership of less than 10,000 in North America and EMEA, the two most popular regions, throughout the regular season of first split. The Split One Playoffs saw a significant increase in viewership, peaking at over 300,000 viewers and averaging 55,000 — nearly the same viewership as the inaugural season ALGS Championship.[14] With an average minute audience of over 539,000 and 10.3 million total hours watched, the Split Two Playoffs on May 1, 2022, broke viewership records across all of EA's titles. The ALGS Championship was held at the PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina on July 7–10. Unlike the previous season, there was only one championship match, with teams from all regions competing. The event had a $2 million prize pool, and it marked the first time that the ALGS held a live-audience event.[15] Australian team DarkZero Esports won the series' second season.[16]

2022–23 season

Main article: ALGS Year 3

For the third season, the prize pool stayed the same as before at $5 million. The online regular season for Split 1 of the ALGS Year 3 Pro League began on November 6, 2022.[17] Although Split 1 dropped in viewership by 30%, it peaked at over 500,000 viewers during the playoffs across multiple channels on both Twitch.tv and YouTube.[18] This Split was held at Copper Box Arena in London and introduced a new fast-paced format for the finals called Match Point. In this format, a team can only be crowned the victor once they win a game after they have already garnered 50 points. Team SoloMid (TSM) ultimately won the Split 1 Playoffs and took home $300,000 and their in-game-leader ImperialHal winning MVP of the tournament.[19]

2023–24 season

The ALGS Year 4 Pro League North American Regional Finals were postponed after multiple competitors experienced hacking incidents where they were given cheats mid-match, including auto-aim and revealing the location of every player in the game.[20] Easy Anti-Cheat, the anti-cheat software used for Apex Legends, issued a statement on March 18 stating that they were confident the issue did not resolve from a vulnerability within their software.

After the Year 4 Split 2 LAN tournament, EA announced the "BLGS", a series of online open tournaments taking place between the Split 2 LAN and the season's ALGS Championship tournament.[21][22]

List of winners

# Year Split 1 Playoffs Split 2 Playoffs Championship References
1 2020–21 — multiple teams[b] [12]
2 2021–22 multiple teams[c] Reignite DarkZero [16][27][28][29]
3 2022–23 TSM DarkZero TSM [30][31]
4 2023–24 Reject Winnity Spacestation Gaming [32][33]

Notes

  1. ^ Although initially planned to include the top 40 teams from all regions, the Split One Playoffs featured five separate regional online tournaments, consisting of the top 20 teams from each region's Pro League Split One regular season.[3]
  2. ^ Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, five regional champions were crowned instead: Fennel Korea (APAC North), Wolfpack Arctic (APAC South), Scarz (EMEA), Kungarna NA (NA), Paradox (SA)[23][24]
  3. ^ Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, five regional champions were crowned instead: Riddle (APAC North), DreamFire (APAC South), NEW Esports (EMEA), TSM (NA), Team Singularity (SA).[25][26]

References

  1. ^ Galiz-Rowe, Ty (October 24, 2021). "ALGS commissioner John Nelson reflects on the past and present of Apex Legends esports". Upcomer. Retrieved June 11, 2022.
  2. ^ a b Michael, Cale (July 22, 2021). "Apex Legends Global Series announces $5 million Pro League format, expands to console". Dot Esports. Retrieved June 10, 2022.
  3. ^ Snavely, Adam (December 3, 2021). "ALGS cancels LAN playoffs due to COVID-19". Dot Esports. Retrieved June 10, 2022.
  4. ^ Snavely, Adam (February 23, 2022). "ALGS Split 2 preview: Everything you need to know". Dot Esports. Retrieved June 10, 2022.
  5. ^ Smith, Noah (December 17, 2019). "Apex Legends Global Series announced, featuring over $3 million total prizes". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 9, 2022.
  6. ^ O'Connor, James (December 17, 2019). "Apex Legends Global Series Is An International Tournament With A $3 Million Prize Pool". GameSpot. Retrieved June 9, 2022.
  7. ^ Rand, Emily (March 6, 2020). "Coronavirus leads EA to cancel Apex and FIFA events". ESPN. Retrieved June 9, 2022.
  8. ^ Davidson, Ethan (March 20, 2020). "Coronavirus could deal final blow to embattled Apex Legends pro scene". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 9, 2022.
  9. ^ Peres, Pedro (March 31, 2020). "ALGS team shifts Apex events to online format, adds 3 new tournaments with $100,000 prize pool". Dot Esports. Retrieved June 9, 2022.
  10. ^ a b Duran, H. B. (March 29, 2021). "Apex Legends Global Series Championship details revealed". Esports Insider. Retrieved June 10, 2022.
  11. ^ Fudge, James (June 1, 2021). "Apex Legends Global Series Championship Prize Pool Reaches $2.58M". The Esports Observer. Retrieved June 10, 2022.
  12. ^ a b "Introducing Year 2 of the Apex Legends Global Series". Electronic Arts. July 22, 2021. Retrieved June 10, 2022.
  13. ^ Takahashi, Dean (July 22, 2021). "Apex Legends esports will have $5M prize pool and return to live events". VentureBeat. Retrieved June 10, 2022.
  14. ^ Davidson, Ethan (January 24, 2022). "ALGS playoffs show a viewership boom for Apex esports after a quiet regular season". Dot Esports. Retrieved June 11, 2022.
  15. ^ Frascarelli, Victor (June 7, 2022). "Apex Legends Global Series to be held in Raleigh with live audience". Esports Insider. Retrieved June 10, 2022.
  16. ^ a b Davison, Ethan (July 15, 2022). "'Apex Legends' esports' stadium debut is a rebirth, not a victory lap". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 19, 2022.
  17. ^ "Apex Legends Esports Events Calendar - EA Official Site". Electronic Arts. August 25, 2021. Retrieved October 3, 2022.
  18. ^ Walker, Patrick (February 7, 2023). "ALGS 2023 Split 1 Playoffs viewership drops 30% from last split". GSI Esports Insider. Retrieved March 6, 2023.
  19. ^ Hassan, Nazmul (February 5, 2023). "TSM is the Winner of ALGS 2023 Split 1 Playoffs London". GameRiv. Retrieved March 6, 2023.
  20. ^ Richardson, Tom (March 18, 2024). "Apex Legends esports final delayed by hack claims". BBC News. Retrieved March 19, 2024.
  21. ^ "EYNTK about the BLGS". Electronic Arts. September 18, 2024. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
  22. ^ Moorcroft-Sharp, Jamie (September 15, 2024). "BLGS match schedule, dates & times". Destructoid. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
  23. ^ "ALGS Championship Details Revealed". Electronic Arts Inc. March 25, 2021. Retrieved June 24, 2024.
  24. ^ Farrell, Nick (June 14, 2021). "Apex Legends Global Series Championship: ALGS final results & recap". Dexerto. Retrieved June 24, 2024.
  25. ^ "Apex Legends Global Series Split 1 Playoffs Update". Electronic Arts Inc. December 3, 2021. Retrieved June 24, 2024.
  26. ^ Amos, Andrew (January 24, 2022). "ALGS Pro League 2022 Split 1: Results, placements & recap". Dexerto. Retrieved June 24, 2024.
  27. ^ "Apex Legends Global Series Split 1 Playoffs Announcements". Electronic Arts. January 2022. Retrieved May 2, 2024.
  28. ^ Amos, Andrew (February 19, 2022). "ALGS Pro League 2022 Split 1: Results, placements & recap". Dextero. Retrieved May 2, 2024.
  29. ^ Amos, Andrew (May 1, 2022). "Reignite wins ALGS 2022 Split 2 Playoffs: Full recap & results". Dextero. Retrieved May 2, 2024.
  30. ^ Landis, Robbie (September 11, 2023). "ALGS 2023 Results: TSM Crowned Apex Legends Global Series Champions". Esports Illustrated. Retrieved May 2, 2024.
  31. ^ Millar, Schuyler (July 21, 2023). "ALGS Split 2 Playoffs results solidify the first thirty teams going to ALGS Year 3 Championship". WYMT. Retrieved May 2, 2024.
  32. ^ @PlayApexEsports (May 5, 2024). "The Year 4 #ALGS Split 1 Playoffs Champions are @RC_REJECT 🏆" (Tweet). Retrieved May 5, 2024 – via Twitter.
  33. ^ Moorcroft-Sharp, Jamie (September 1, 2024). "SSG wins ALGS Split 2 Playoffs 2024 following fabulous performance on finals day". Destructoid. Retrieved September 1, 2024.