Lack of practice and visa issues ahead of ALGS Championship 2022

Only less than a month before the start of the Apex Legends Global Series Championship 2022, multiple Apex Legends pros decided to share their troublesome experiences with attending the event. Besides visa issues, players are also unable to practice. 

Ahead of the title’s biggest esports event, Apex Legends athletes decided to speak up about the inability to practice as a result of the latest game update, which has caused severe server crashes and instability of private lobbies. Furthermore, by picking U.S., the organizers didn’t make it particularly easy for some players to attend. 

 

Visa issues 

In addition to the lack of training, some players might not be able to participate in the event at all as a result of visa issues. More specifically, Element 6 player Ali “Naghz” Naghawi joined the Twitter complaints, sharing his own troubles with travelling to the United States. 

According to his words, Naghz is ineligible for obtaining a U.S. visa because, in 2013, he visited family in Iran. The Electronic System for Travel Authorization of the U.S. prevents anyone who has travelled to Iran after March 1, 2011, from obtaining an entry visa. Naghz says that his visa was not approved and therefore he won’t be able to attend the ALGS Championship, set to take place in Raleigh, North Carolina between July 7 and July 10. 

This is not the first time the organizer has failed to ensure that players are able to travel and participate in the ALGS events. Most recently, multiple players were unable to travel to Sweden during the ALGS Split 2 Playoffs, leaving teams having to find substitutes for their players in the most important Apex competitions. 

Low-quality PCs 

Apart from visa issues, the ALGS LAN event in Stockholm also sparked a backlash among Apex pro players just two days prior to its launch at the end of April. The organizers failed to secure high-end PCs for the event, and so players had to play on older, less-powerful setups with a high probability of lagging during the high-stake matches. 

 

Road to another ruined EA title? 

Electronic Arts’ approach towards its Apex Legends’ professional circuit seems to be lacking in multiple places. Besides the unfairness to those players who worked for their spots and couldn’t attend the ALGS tournaments, the inability to practice before the season-concluding event, as well as the insufficient equipment, is undoubtedly a source of frustration for many Apex professionals. 

Let’s not forget that Apex Legends is EA’s most popular game that generated over $2 billion in sales since its launch, yet the passiveness of ALGS organizers continues to notably damage the league itself. With the currently broken game and seriously deficient professional league, EA might want to reconsider its approach before it ruins another good title.

Header: Electronic Arts