Esports Power Rankings: Which Teams Will Rule the Scene in 2024?
The world of professional esports is one that’s in constant turmoil. Much as the early days of professional football, soccer and other sports saw dozens of offshoot leagues and teams folding after as little as a game or two of existence, there isn’t a ton of consistency as new games come out and fledgling leagues try to find their footing.
Because entirely novel games get released on a yearly basis, the esports industry has a lot more inherent turnover than other forms of sport: soccer has been around for hundreds of years, but we have yet to see a “soccer 2” take shape, for instance. At the same time, though, that constant change creates an exciting product that keeps viewers guessing. With those differences in mind, here’s a look at the world of esports in 2024, including some of the best teams and leagues to keep an eye on.
Dust Settling From the Overwatch League
It’s been a busy couple years for Overwatch fans, with the Overwatch League breaking up at the conclusion of the 2023 season following a difficult transition to Overwatch 2, which got banned in China due to a licensing agreement conflict, cutting off a major support base for the once-successful league.
The good news for fans of the first-person shooter is that the Overwatch League isn’t gone for good: instead, it’ll be played on a professional basis in the Overwatch Champions Series, the next iteration of the esport.
One interesting complication of the switch is that quite a few teams didn’t survive the breakup of the Overwatch League, creating a number of free agents for new and returning teams to pick up. They say that “to the victor goes to the spoils,” but in this case, perhaps it’s more accurate to say that it’s the survivors reaping the benefit of the change. Returning teams like the Dallas Fuel, who were crowned as league champions in 2022, are going to have a head start over the rest of the pack because of their already established rosters and coaching staff, and they are sure to be a sweetheart for DraftKings North Carolina promo code users once the season is underway.
Other Overwatch Contenders
With uncertainty swirling around the switch to the Champions Series, there’s a good chance that we will see more attention heaped on other leagues. In that line of thinking, I’m extremely interested to see what Team Falcons is able to do this year over in the Saudi League.
They had an excellent free agency showing, picking over the now-defunct Atlanta Reign this offseason and acquiring Kwon “Fielder” Joon and Han “ChiYo” Hyeon-seok, two of the best support class mains in the world. ChiYo and Fielder helped take Atlanta to the Grand Finals in 2023, and they’re joining a team that has a number of first place performances in the Saudi League. That may not be as impressive as an Overwatch League title— at least for the moment—but as the face of the sport continues to change, they make for an intriguing dark horse competitor.
Continuing with the Call of Duty League
While Call of Duty’s annual blockbuster style might be a little too milquetoast for some of the hardcore gamers on this site, the fact remains that it’s one of the most popular games in the world for a reason. As such, it provides an excellent jumping off point into the world of spectator esports for more casual fans… and as we’ve seen with other sports leagues like the NFL, becoming an inseparable cultural staple is critical to long term success in the entertainment industry.
The 2024 CoD League season got underway in December, so we’ve already had a little bit of time to forecast who will win it all this year. Fresh off of a championship defeat against the New York Subliners last year, the Toronto Ultra are back with a vengeance, claiming a decisive 4-1 victory in the Stage 1 Final against the top seeded Atlanta FaZe after entering the tournament in the No. 2 spot.
It feels like all too often that we see a team fall off the face of the Earth after a championship letdown, and it will be fun to see if Toronto can complete their unfinished business with a championship run for the ages.
New York is a solid bet for a repeat, as they finished the group stage in the No. 3 spot, but after getting swept out of the first round in embarrassing fashion, one wonders if they’re dealing with a bit of a championship hangover.
