Call Of Duty’s battle royale game mode Warzone is one of the most intense, and action packed games out there. The game has that fast paced game style, while adding that tactical and strategic play we see in other battle royales. Here’s everything you need to know about Warzone and its potential as an Esport.
What is Warzone?
Much like any other battle royale esport, the main goal in warzone is to be the last team remaining and survive till the end to achieve the Warzone Victory. Players can queue in multiple game modes, Solos, Duos, Trios, Quads, as well as Resurgence, Mini Royale and Plunder.
Weapons
Similar to any other game, Warzone consists of what we nowadays call as meta weapons. We see this time and time again with games like Fortnite and Apex Legends, which have a myriad of weapons to choose from. In Warzone, meta weapons are changing with every season and it’s tough to keep track of which gun has the best TTK (time to kill). Thankfully, due to the game’s popularity, there are multiple content creators which put effort into helping others identify tips and tricks, and what weapons to use in the game.
Warzone Tournaments
When it comes to competitive Warzone, tournaments are happening all the time. Unfortunately, the majority of the competitive Warzones scene resides in North America, however there are a couple of players from Europe which have showcased their abilities multiple times. A few of Warzone’s most well-known players are: Aydan, HusKerrs, Joewo, Tommey, Jukeys, Newbz, Destroy, and many others. Unfortunately in Warzone, there is no direct competitive game mode, however the way tournaments work is similar to how old Fortnite tournaments used to work, Kill-races.
In this type of game mode a set of players team up in one of Warzone’s regular game mode playlists and compete against each other to see who will achieve the most kills in that match. This could also be played in a best of 2 or best of 3 format. The most common format we see nowadays is the 2v2 kill race format, where a duo join another duo team lobby and queue in the quads game mode. If you think Warzone isn’t a good esports to be a part of, think again. This esport has some of the biggest prize pools in all of esports, with prize winnings varying from $150,000 to $300,000 and beyond. Here’s a short list of the highest earners in Warzone
- Aydan – $198,711.07
- HusKerrs – $166,816.68
- Rated – $161,784.43
- SuperEvan – $159,470.83
- Tommey – $158,150.51
- Biffle – $137,741.67
- Almxnd – $109,769.68
- WarsZ – $108,138.07
- Jukeyz – $101,408.37
- JoeWo – $101,316.67
The World Series of Warzone
Just recently, Call Of Duty revealed their very own major event, the World Series of Warzone. This event will be directly hosted by Activision themselves, and broadcasted fully on Twitch. As mentioned in a previous article of ours, there will be 4 events that involve 50 Trio/Duo squads from North America and Europe. Each tournament will consist of a $300,000 USD prize pool and will be one of the most exciting Warzone events yet!
Warzone’s main issues
From a Warzone player perspective you can identify multiple issues within a game like Warzone. To start with, Warzone has a huge problem with cheaters. Unfortunately Activision have put most of their focus on battle passes and seasonal skins, and have not taken action against these cheaters that are purposely ruining every player’s experience. This has become a huge issue within the competitive scene as tournament participants need to back out and re-queue each time they face a cheater.
There are also various bugs and issues within the game. But one that is most concerning is the Skill-based matchmaking, or as many call it, SBMM. With some tournaments having their format as timed kill races (getting the most kills in a set-time, for example 3 hours), players have found a way to get easier lobbies to get higher kills. This can be abused in many ways, but at the moment players have been leaning towards VPN’s and special routers that change their geographical location. A major concern for the future of Warzone and it’s competitive nature.
Conclusion
Warzone has only been out for a year, and throughout this past few months we’ve truly seen how competitive this esport can get. With these action-packed tournaments and talented personalities within the game, Warzone certainly has a future in esports.
