Amazon is the next big player to take on the esports market with its title Crucible, that will be launching on the 20th of May. It’s a new, free-to-play PC game from Amazon Game Studios that will be taking on a number of different esports titles in the genre. The game is set in a sci-fi world where players take control of characters in third person and is a team-based shooter with a battle royale elements.
Crucible is Amazon’s first big-budget title on PC and is supposedly three games in one. In Crucible, players will get to choose from a number of different characters with specific abilities. There are three modes in the game, and they are Heart of the Hives, Alpha Hunters and Harvester Command. Each of them a little different than the last, but all of them seemingly having a place in the competitive world of esports.
Heart of the Hive: In Heart of the Hive, players will be put against AI-controlled enemies in a four versus four mode with the objective to capture the hearts left behind by the hive creatures.
Alpha Hunters: Alpha Hunters will see players put into a battle royale mode, where eight teams of two will fight against each other to be the last team standing.
Harvester Command: Finally, two teams of eight will fight it out to control essence by controlling essence harvesters, leveling up characters during the game to become stronger and more powerful.
Putting aside the different modes for now, from what the First Look trailer of Crucible is showing, the game seems to be some kind of mixture between a number of games. It does seem to be remarkably similar to the likes of Overwatch or VALORANT, where players will need to rely on core shooting skills with the addition of using abilities and strengths to overcome enemies.
The game has been in development for a good 6 years or so, and seeing how Amazon has been taking over everything, we’re pretty confident that it’s going to be quite a success. Bear in mind, the esports and gaming streaming giant Twitch, is actually owned by Amazon, so we’ll have to wait and see if this gives them any kind of advantage in terms of marketing. Whether or not the game becomes the next big thing on Twitch, we’re pretty confident that Crucible is going to be something that you’ll see a lot of in the near future.
Amazon is also developing another game called New World at the Amazon Game Studios, and is also coming out this year, apparently. This game is supposed to be a massively multiplayer online (MMO) game that is due for release in August.
VALORANT developer Riot Games has just brought in the addition of a competitive ranked system. After being live in beta for just over a month now, players have been craving a more serious mode over and above the casual games.
The new ranked mode will allow players to get a rank and tier, to see where they stack up in the grand scheme of things. Ranging from Iron 1 all the way through to Valorant, players will head up through 8 different ranks, with 3 tiers of each, apart from the final rank, Valorant. Riot has said that winning games is the most important factor in gaining rank, but personal performance plays a big part in that too.
To get started, you’ll need to complete 20 Unrated matches first, regardless of whether you win or lose, and once that’s done, you’ll be able to start your ranked placement games. The first five games that you play in ranked will count towards your placement after which, you’ll be placed in your rightful spot.
You can queue with a 5-player party in ranked, but you’ll need to be within 2 ranks of each other, and while rank doesn’t decay in VALORANT, it will not be displayed if you haven’t played a competitive match in 14 days. Whatever you do now in the beta will be wiped when the final game is launched, so the rankings that you earn now won’t be carried over to the launch of the final game.
