The founder of the esports organization 100 Thieves, Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag, has some strong opinions about the newly created Call of Duty League.
At the end of August, Nadeshot made a video to let fans know that 100 Thieves would not be paying the 25 million dollars to buy a franchise slot in Call of Duty League.
His main reasoning was that it was just too risky of an investment for the growing organization, and recently, he revealed more of his thoughts about the league.
There are two main issues that Nadeshot has with the Call of Duty League, the game used for competition, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, and the viewership the league will get.
He brings up an excellent point that he been talked about many times since an interview with Infinity Ward developers was released. Are Activision (Call of Duty League) and Infinity Ward (Game) on the same page regarding competitive Call of Duty?
Here is the video that started this theory (watch from 39:00 – 40:30)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare was designed for casual players. The developers want to attract new players in the game, and a way to do that is by making it a little easier for them to play against Call of Duty veterans.
The guns in the game are more lethal, which increases the chance that a new player can kill a professional, and the maps are designed to have fewer open areas, and more places for new gamers to hide.
Now, one can understand why Infinity Ward is gearing Call of Duty towards a more casual audience. They figure that they already have the veterans; they will play the game no matter what. But to grow the brand and make more money, they need to target a new player.
However, this is at the expense of the professional community. Nadeshot believes that Modern Warfare is not geared for professional play. It seems like Infinity Ward and Activision want two different things with the game, one would imagine that there was solid communication between the two as Infinity Ward is a subsidiary of Activision, but who knows?
Another issue Nadeshot mentions is the potential viewership of Call of Duty League and how it will affect investment.
Historically, Call of Duty esports has had low viewership compared to other esports like League of Legends and Overwatch.
He also mentions that without teams like 100 Thieves competing and OpTic Gaming only playing occasionally, viewers will not be as interested.
If viewership is low, that will equal a negative return on investment for franchise owners. To purchase a team slot from Call of Duty League and create a franchise to compete, the owner has to shell out 25 million dollars.
Besides that, there are many other costs associated with fielding a team.
As this is a global league, teams will be flying thousands of miles throughout the season to compete, and sometimes only in one match. The cost of flying coaches, core players, and a couple of substitutes is enormous, and then there’s accommodations and food that needs to be accounted for as well.
For investors to make money, they will need to have fans interested in their brand, and interact with their content, purchase their clothing, buy tickets for the events, etc.
Nadeshot believes that this is a massive investment for the owners of these franchised teams, as well as risky.
So, Activision has their work cut out for them; it sounds like. It will be fascinating to see what they do to bring in viewership. By implementing this franchised, city-based team system, it is evident that they are trying to cast a wide net to capture new viewership, which could also coincide with Modern Warfare being designed for new players.
Time will tell if the Call of Duty League will be a success, or if it will fall flat, with a lot of unhappy investors, pro players, and fans.