Black Ops 4 Esports Reveal Event Preview & Predictions

An event with huge importance & massive consequences.

Image from CODWorldLeague

There is now only one week till the Black Ops 4 esports reveal event, an event that is held every year, and is always an event which divides opinion and holds great significance for the upcoming season. This year it feels like all of that and then some, whether it be franchising or 5v5, a lot is up in the air right now, and the community can’t seem to agree on anything. This event won’t make or break the season, it never does, but it’s vitally important to have a good start, and it all kicks off next week.

I’m going to begin with discussing the potential of the game switching to 5v5, as earlier today it was found out that a PlayStation sanctioned tournament in Germany will be running 5v5 team sizes, a huge indicator as to team sizes in Black Ops 4. Now of course this tournament is an invitational showcase and is not even under the CWL banner but it does lead me to predict that COD is moving over to 5v5 this year, and I expect it to be announced next week. This is the exact opposite of what I want.

For me a switch to 5v5 would be a disaster, no it will not be the death of the scene as we know it, but it would fundamentally alter pretty much every aspect of competitive COD. We have always used 4v4 because it’s just what works best for the game. This is a very fast paced, constant action shooter, set on quite small maps, an increase to 10 players would erode enjoyment for the viewer and destroy much of the tactical side to the game due to the sheer increase in chaos on the map. Not too mention how much worse the already dodgy spawns would get. There is also the financial and business reasons against this move. Having to pay all the costs for a whole extra player would mean many small orgs may feel they cannot afford to have a COD team anymore, or perhaps have to choose between having a team with no coaching staff or no team at all. It is also very short notice to announce this now, and while we are a few months out from the first major LAN, we are only one exact month from the launch of the game.

Franchising is a rumour that’s been going around for rather some time now, and is something that has me even more worried that the move to 5v5. To be brief, and I have discussed this in much more detail here, I think franchising risks the very soul of the game and it’s community. Luckily I don’t think it is coming this year, however I do believe that this season is what is going to be used to set us up for franchising in 2019/20. From what I have heard it is only a matter of time before it arrives. I am going to do a full piece on this later on this year, because of course if done correctly it could yield benefits for us, but that is a huge if. For now, just know it may well feature in next weeks stream, but I don’t expect it to be relevant for much of the upcoming season.

The other main thing that will be discussed will be the structure and schedule for the entire season, like last year I expect pretty much every event to be announced right away. If this doesn't happen I will disappointed, the importance of announcing events well ahead of time cannot be understated. A few things I am hoping we hear about are; more than one European event, actual support for the ANZ community and having Champs in later August/early September as I am not a fan of Champs being any earlier in the year. The lack of support for the ANZ community this year has been quite frankly a disgrace, and if they are not given at least one CWL open LAN this season then I will be truly shocked. Also while Europe got an open LAN this past season, I think they deserve far more, not only does the region boast some of the worlds best teams, but it has unequivocally the best fans. Maybe this is my UK bias showing, but for me hosting Champs in London is something that should happen soon, the region has earned it. Overall if I had to predict, I’d say we will see a tournament calendar very similar to the WWII season, perhaps with some additions to accommodate for the introduction of franchising next year.

Other structural changes I wish to see are; an expanded pro league, the removal of the pro point system, and proper regional tier two and three LAN leagues. For an esport to only have 16 teams in it’s top tier league is not good enough. While I wouldn't bet on this happening, I think an expansion to 20 something teams makes sense. Again, something I don’t think will happen is the CWL ditching the tiresome pro point system. Pro players have even resorted to cheating pro point matches, in order to avoid wasting time on this mundane waste of time. The sooner the idea is thrown away, the sooner competitive COD will improve.

Since the inception of the CWL, the amateur scene has taken a hit, from the age-limit to a woeful attempt at a second amateur league with last seasons National Circuits. This will be the fourth season of the CWL and I can’t see the amateur scene not getting a lift. Especially if franchising really is coming, then finances can’t be used as an excuse ever again. If it doesn't happen, then to me it proves that Activision doesn't really care about the wider competitive community and its fans, just the money it can generate for them. Personally I think we need to see a multi-tiered and regional amateur leagues with multiple stages throughout the season, played on LAN in order to truly support the long term success of the game. What I think they will actually do, is double down on the online national circuits with a variety improvements.

Possibly the most important thing for this specific season is the rule set, and I fully expect it to be announced next week. Remember this will only be the first version of the rule set, so there is no need to be up in arms just yet, if what is announced isn't that great. There is also reason to believe that no matter what the wider community may want, we wont get it, Treyarch was very stubborn during the Black Ops 3 season, and I certainly wont be getting my hopes up. I have been very open about how I think lots of Black Ops 4 is completely against what makes an esport competitive. Too start off with I’d ban all specialists, restrict AI controlled scorestreaks, remove the gear slot in Create-a-Class, and rework the operator mods. I have gone into more detail on what works in competitive and what doesn't in this piece here. In reality the first rule set will include a few bans on certain obvious perks and equipment, and they will set out which things they wish to test first before dropping the ban hammer on them. We may also get some esports specific reworks, something COD has never really used to its full potential.

We can also expect the first proper showings for this years COD Caster and League Play, Two things we know will be in the game but haven't seen anything concrete on yet. COD Caster has been the one part of COD that has consistently seen improvements year-on-year, quite frankly I find it hard to see how they will top the great WWII caster mode, but either way, expect a good showing here come next week. League Play has always been an important addition for competitive ever since its creation in Black Ops 2, and if they can fix the issues that have plagued the mode over the year it could be great. I go into more detail on how to improve the mode here. Don’t be surprised to hear a few words on the in-game viewer and theater mode, something Treyarch has been pretty good on in the past. A long requested feature is crowd funding and in-game incentives to watch competitive COD, while I don’t think this will happen this year, I wouldn’t rule it out, as events like this always throw up a surprise or two. I expect the base prize pool to stay around $4million just like the past few seasons, although it would of course be great to see an increase to that, for the amateur scene to get more too.

Finally I want to touch on Blackout, Black Ops 4’s brand new Battle Royale mode. I want to say that personally I don’t think this mode is esports worthy at all, no BR game is, they rely far too much on RNG. However, if the mode is used as a way to integrate more all-star matches into the season then I would not mind in the slightest because, while it isn't competitive, Blackout is fun. Another idea is too use Blackout, similar to how Halo uses FFA at their LANs, which I also think would work well. I don’t want Blackout to have full CWL support however, too see any attention directed away from the truly competitive experience would be a deep disappointment to me. I fully expect Treyarch and Activision to want to support this game with tournaments though, as the financial incentive is too great for them too ignore, I just hope they don’t get blinded by that and stick true to what makes Call of Duty an esport.

Whatever happens next week, I just hope that we can all come away from the event happy in the knowledge that our favourite game is on the right track. COD has always been a unique esport, and I hope that the guys behind the CWL stick true to that approach because that is the way that I believe is best for this game. Not focusing on what will bring in the most money, or viewers but what will make the best game for our great community.