The global pandemic that is COVID-19 has brought about a wealth of new challenges to citizens and companies alike, with everyone attempting to find a new balance of supply and demand without erroneously killing themselves or others.
One aspect of this that consistently comes to light within esports is the need to cut tournaments into regions for the sake of ping; it’s scarcely reasonable to expect a South Korean team, for example, to be able to compete against an eastern US team on a server that is based in Dallas.
So we have the Overwatch League showing regional play within a relatively shallow pool , Counter-Strike has a massive shake-up impending whenever Europe stops playing against themselves and gets back into the stomping ground of NA CS, and we have esports around the clock in a strange parade that never ends.
Yet while some posit that the NA scene of Counter-Strike is beginning to suffer due to Valorant’s release as young players flock to be a part of the grassroots of the eventual league, an opposite reaction is occurring in Europe regarding Valorant.
There simply aren’t enough tournaments and weeklies happening to bring a new community to life.
Europe has historically been in love with Counter-Strike, and they tend to dominate in that title looking at international trophies alone. So while the west sees many shifting over to Valorant due to the current state of CS:GO, not many in Europe are entirely eager to take up a new continental hobby.
https://twitter.com/AldgiaCoach/status/1307999550167285760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Some posit that it’s a lapse of judgement or accuracy from Riot Games in pinpointing the general lack of interested players within Europe, and others are pointing to the colossal success of Counter-Strike closing the European market by such a massive margin that Riot would see a disheartening return on whatever investment they sunk.
zero tournaments to play in , not even weeklies
— Taimou (@taimouow) September 21, 2020
Whether this could bleed over into whatever league Riot envisions ultimately becoming a more NA-focused league, or if their vision simply hasn’t taken root in Europe as they have hoped, it’s an interesting (if possibly precarious) situation to find themselves in depending on what their vision for the title ultimately is, or will become.
It’s worth noting, as we apparently need to include this disclaimer every time Valorant is mentioned, that this doesn’t mean that Valorant has suddenly died off or is deemed a failure.
As is on the bin, Valorant is suffering within the European scene due to an apparent lack of interested organizations willing to funnel money into yet another esport.