Dartfrog Logo

All eyes set upon the Apex Legends Preseason Invitational

Apex Legends Preseason Invitational

The Apex Legends Preseason Invitational is set to kick off tomorrow, and with it comes the first real test for the esport. The scene has been running on community cups for some time. In recent months, Twitch Rivals and ESPN have hosted tournaments, gauging interest – but the ultimate test is now ahead of us. EA and Respawn Entertainment are hosting their first major tournament in Kraków, Poland from the 13th-15th September 2019. A USD$500,000 prize pool is on the line as teams look to secure their first major break in the emerging battle royale esports scene.

The build-up

The Apex Legends scene suffered the same early fate as PUBG and Fortnite as there was no real way to establish private servers and no spectator system when the game launched. Most organisations have already have dealt with this issue, which is less than ideal. Teams who played in early tournaments had to compete in public games and submit their scores.

Since then, Respawn has developed a private server feature, which only special events have access to. ESPN, Twitch Rivals, and now the Apex Legends Preseason Invitational will make use of this feature. The ability to perform at a LAN and use specialist, private servers is a must-have for an esports scene – which is partially why it has been so interesting to watch the recent Apex Legends events.

The here-and-now

With the success of these events, more and more teams have begun to invest in the scene. Many of which will make their debut in the Apex Legends Preseason Invitational. The likes of Gambit Esports, Soniqs and Team Secret are now confirmed to be attending, showcasing the new interest in the scene. Furthermore, early investors Gen.G, Alliance, and NRG Esports are also attending. Some organisations are so confident in the game’s growth that they’ve invested in two teams. Prime examples are Fnatic, who have an EU and NA team attending the Preseason Invitational, as do Team Liquid, who have two North American teams.

Team Liquid recently finalised their second Apex Legends roster

Smaller esports organisations such as Fierce and BDS also have squads taking to the stage, alongside some ‘orgless’ teams. For major organisations not already invested in the scene, this tournament is an amazing opportunity to market themselves as worthy contenders.

By no means is this a tournament that teams are taking lightly. PENTA Sports provided a bootcamp for their players ahead of the event. With their training session now over, they are currently travelling from Berlin to Kraków to participate.

PENTA Sports ready to fly to Krakow for the Apex Legends Preseason Invitational.

All the recent hype in the Apex Legends esports scene has been building towards this weekend. The question is, how promising will everything look when the week is over?

The stream kicks off on Friday at 13:00 CEST on various streaming outlets, including Twitch, YouTube and Mixer. Games kick off each day at 13:30 CEST, with the grand final expected to begin on Sunday at 17:00 CEST.

Follow Dart Frog on TwitterInstagram and Facebook for all the latest news and analysis on the growing Apex Legends scene.