Hello and welcome to eSports Sunday here on MorganLinton.com! Since I know many of my readers are still new to the world of eSports I thought now would be as good a time as any to share three of the hottest eSports games right now, in April of 2018. I was actually doing a Google search to look back on other people who had written about the top eSports games and found that even articles written a few months ago are out of date.
The reality is that eSports is growing so fast, new games can come out and instantly become one of the most-played and streamed games in a matter of months. That’s one of the things that I think makes eSports so exciting, but it’s also a challenge to keep up with at the same time.
So to help make your life easier and maybe make you look like you’re in the know next time you’re talking with gamer friends, here are three of the hottest eSports games on the market right now, in April of 2018.
Fortnite
This is the game that I’m personally playing the most right now, I’m a huge fan and I’m not alone. Fortnite is breaking all kinds of records and quickly becoming one of the top eSports games in the world. The game works on any system from PC to PS4 to XBox and you can use the same account on all three which means that you can actually switch between different platforms.
Fortnite now has more monthly active players than Rockstar Games’ perennial top-10 title Grand Theft Auto V. Though Epic’s last-player-standing game doesn’t cost anything up front, it does successfully tempt its players with in-game purchases. The only game where players spent more money was Sledgehammer Games’s Call of Duty: WWII, which is still the top-grossing game on consoles. (Source – VentureBeat)
What I really like about Fortnite is it’s really solid combination of FPS with a Minecraft-like strategy game. I’m less of a run around and shoot kind of player so for me the concept of getting geared up and hiding is actually a lot of fun. But to each their own, this game has a number of different strategies that you can use to get into a top spot. I’m also pretty sure this is either the #1 or #2 most-streamed game on Twitch right now.
Call of Duty WWII
While I haven’t personally played Call of Duty WWII myself, I feel like I’m probably one of the only gamers out there who hasn’t. This game is insanely popular and is also one of the most-streamed eSports games out there. One of the things that people really like about the game is the refreshed downloadable content that opens up new missions and features within the game. These DLCs are so popular even broad-based publications like Forbes have started covering them.
Activision and Sledgehammer Games revealed the next map pack DLC for Call Of Duty: WWII today.
The new maps take place across the Western front and in Northern Africa. And a new War Mode Operation takes to the skies in what sounds like a really interesting twist on the franchise’s traditionally grounded PvP. Aerial dogfighting in Call of Duty MP? We live in a crazy world.
The new content is part of the game’s season pass and lands on PlayStation 4 on April 10th weeks before PC and Xbox One.
(Source – Forbes)
I still want to take this game for a spin but I’m just too darn into Fortnite to take the time to learn a new game.
League of Legends
Some people consider League of Legends to be the original eSport and it’s still one of the most-played, and most-watched eSports games out there. Inspired by a Warcraft III mod (as was DOTA 2) this game has a lot of similarities to a traditional sports game with a playing field, players that have different abilities and leverage these to play different positions on a field, and teams with coaches that are just as hardcore as any sports coach I’ve ever seen.
The learning curve for League of Legends is a bit steep if you haven’t played a game like it before but I often liken it to Chess when it comes to the complexity of strategy and different ways that you use characters and their abilities to strategically beat your opponent. I still really want to go to a live League of Legends tournament…maybe this will be the year?
