The current curse on Vainglory Esports with professional esports teams dropping their Vainglory rosters one after the other is at no halt. The recent exit team of TSM may prove to be the final nail to the coffin of competitive Vainglory. TSM’s exit follows those of Cloud9, SK Gaming and Gankstars earlier this year.
TSM was the best performing team in competitive Vainglory Esports (in 3v3 format) since 2016, and its players had stacked up many victories, winning NA Winter Champs 2016, NA Summer 2016, Amazon’s Mobile Masters 2017 and the Battle of the Atlantic.
TSM also bagged the first position on the 2018 (Vainglory Premier League) pre-season. Thus their exit from competitive gameplay would be the biggest blow to the game’s esports dreams, as TSM was their unofficial poster child.
Things hadn’t been going right with competitive Vainglory, since the release of the new 5v5 format in February this year. Though it was welcomed with much vigor, it posed new challenges to both professional teams, who had to scout for two new members to build a complete team (and in turn, had to increase their investments in a relatively small esports scene) as well as to pro players, who had to relearn the new meta from the start.
As Vainglory Esports is trying to evolve into a larger and more complex form, many esports organizations are holding back in face of uncertainty, to see whether the game continues to grow as before. The lack of any regular season immediately seems to be the main stimulus behind the exit of so many professional teams.
Vainglory Premier League
The VPL pre-season ended nearly two months ago, and the full VPL season has been infinitely delayed, in favor of VPL Summer Open events. Those Summer Open events was to be kicked off at the end of June, but it was postponed at the last minute, and a “another month delay” was announced on Twitter.
With 105 teams registered, we were excited to select the top 24 and kick off the VPL Summer Open this weekend! However, due to further complications, there will be another month delay. Yes, this is now meme-worthy, but we are working to make sure no further delays are needed.
— Vainglory Esports (@vaingloryesport) June 27, 2018
These months of inactivity is doing massive damage to the pro scene, and it is doubtful whether Vainglory Esports developer Super Evil MegaCorp (SEMC) would be able to bring back its former glory, when the VPL finally gets underway.
Vainglory Esports competitors
Moreover, the mobile MOBA game, Arena of Valor (AoV), is garnering immense popularity amongst esports fans across EU and NA, thanks to the well-funded efforts of its parent company, Tencent.
Being the most powerful gaming company in the world, Tencent is leaving no stone unturned to make Arena of Valor the next big thing in esports, as well as in casual gaming (it has generated over $3 millions in revenue in U.S. only, since its release in December 2017).
In sharp contrast to inactivity and cancelled events in competitive Vainglory, Arena of Valor is engaging professional teams actively, and it is only a matter of time, that all major professional teams start announcing new AoV rosters.
It is also unfortunate that amidst the on going controversies going around, Vainglory Esports is attracting the audience for all the wrong reasons. A caster on Twitter opened up by stating the non-payment of his rendered services.
https://twitter.com/HumanistCast/status/1004503660729008128
Competitive Vainglory may not die off so soon, but it has already lost much of its glory, and it would be a real miracle, if they can host a successful VPL season and rekindle its competitive scenario.
