Riot product team lead Richard Henkel addressed the future of Teamfight Tactics in a recent blog post. It seems the studio is happy with the game’s performance and is investing heavily in its development. Consequently, they are indicating they have plans to develop an esports circuit for it next year. “I don’t want to spoil everything, but I will say that we’re committing to building a competitive scene for TFT starting in 2020.”
The decision stems from Riot’s belief that competitive Teamfight Tactics has a bright future. The post summarizes some of the game’s current performance metrics. From them, it highlights that around 80 percent of all matches happen in the Ranked mode. A lot of the action happens in Korea and China, where Teamfight Tactics has gained some serious traction. In North America, esports organization ggChampions is already hosting a series of local tournaments.
Teamfight Tactics has cooled down in popularity lately. Its current average Twitch viewership is a fraction of what it was at launch. However, much like Apex Legends, which experienced a similar phenomenon, it seems to have settled into a stable population. Henkel states that over 33 million players hop on Teamfight Tactics every month.
Arguably, these snippets alone don’t give us enough information to infer concrete predictions. However, Riot is clearly confident in its future as an esport. “Teamfight Tactics is the first one since ARAM to show the potential to be a huge, long-term addition to League,” Henkel states. “As a result of your continued excitement for the mode – as seen by the hours you spend playing, watching, and talking about it – we feel confident in really doubling down on TFT’s development.”
The post also promises more work is being done of expanding the social features of Teamfight Tactics. We know a spectator mode will be implemented in future patches.
Stay tuned to Daily Esports for more Teamfight Tactics news and content!
