In the realm of Apex Legends esports, ALGS reigns supreme—and alone. Over the last year and a half, almost all major third-party tournaments in Apex have dried up as esports winter continues its brutal march. But Oversight is aiming to change that.
Run by TSM team manager minustempo and former FaZe Clan analyst Chrono, Oversight is making a comeback in 2024 after setbacks last year scuttled their original plans for third-party Apex LANs. The new Pro Series announced today will help fill the void left by the last version of the Oversight Pro Series, Esports Arena’s Series E, and other third-party tournaments that used to supplement ALGS and give pros higher-stakes environments than scrims to see how character and weapon metas in the game were shifting.
“Last year, there was talks of running a LAN after going to ALGS and getting behind-the-scenes access on all the equipment, staff, production,” minustempo told Dot Esports when asked about last year’s Pro Series going on hiatus. Those estimated costs turned out to be only a fourth of what minustempo said Oversight would’ve actually needed to put on such an event. The prevailing “esports winter” only compounded issues, with minustempo telling Dot Esports that sponsors Oversight had lined up for such an event backed out when “marketing budgets got slashed.” Faced with some serious funding problems, the Oversight team came to a new conclusion: If they wanted to host pro Apex tournaments, they were going to have to get the money themselves.
Minustempo and Chrono are putting their money where their mouths are, having built up their own cash resources through organizing small events to pour back into Oversight and its projects. The upcoming Pro Series beginning on April 1 will feature all teams qualified for the ALGS Split One Playoffs as those squads will now get a higher-stakes alternative to LAN scrims where they can play against their international competition leading up to two tournaments with fully-funded prize pools over the course of April. After the Split One Playoffs conclude, Oversight plans to continue the Pro Series in an NA-only format beginning on May 13. This will take the place of the scrims that Oversight usually runs—pro teams will be playing for keeps.
“We know that the season 21 patch is supposed to be May 7,” minustempo said, elaborating that a week of testing out any inevitable character, weapon, and/or map changes should give teams a fair shake before entering a tournament with higher stakes than scrims but lower than ALGS play.
The new Pro Series will be broadcast by NiceWigg, who has a partnership with Oversight. Wigg’s incredibly popular watch parties for ALGS scrims and tournaments make him a natural choice as he regularly beats out the PlayApex Twitch channel on online match days for a less-reverent viewing experience outside of individual player streams. And when ALGS Split Two gets rolling and more teams eventually qualify for the next Split Playoffs LAN, the Pro Series format will again revert to a preview of LAN that it wants to function as in April.
Again, all of these big plans come by means of self-funding through Oversight, and the tournament doesn’t currently have any sponsors—but minustempo and Chrono are pushing on regardless. “Chrono and I are not making any money off of Oversight,” minustempo admitted, noting any money the pair do make will go straight back into prize pools.
There’s an unflappable confidence in Apex, however, motivating the move, and the Oversight team has plans to eventually incorporate elements of the Apex community beyond the pro scene to get people more involved. “We want to grow the scene first,” minustempo said. “As far as making a profit or even a living, we don’t care about that.”
It’s a confidence and plan of action the scene needs, and one that will come as a welcome addition to the distinctly uncrowded calendar of Apex tournaments in 2024.
