Free-to-play battle royale title “Apex Legends” launched two days ago, yet it’s already hosting its first big tournament on Twitch. The Twitch Rivals Apex Legends Challenge takes place on Feb. 12 and Feb. 19 and features 48 streamers competing for $200,000 in prizes, Twitch said in a blog post on Wednesday. Some of the online personalities participating in the event include DrDisrespect, TSM Myth, DisguisedToast, Shroud, and more. Each day’s competition features 16 three-player squads who must earn the most points to win. Five points are awarded for each match victory, while each kill awards one point. “To win, streamer squads have to show they’ve mastered the unique abilities of the game’s roster of legends, plus they’ll have to make the most of ‘Apex Legend’s’ new additions to the Battle Royale genre, like Smart Comms for improved call-outs and Respawn Beacons for defying death,” Twitch said. The Twitch Rivals Apex Legends Challenge will air live on the /TwitchRivals channel. “Apex Legends” is the latest game from “Titanfall” developer Respawn Entertainment. It combines familiar elements of the battle royale genre with elements of hero shooters like Blizzard Entertainment’s “Overwatch.” Players pick from a unique cast of characters, each with their own abilities and play styles, then drop into a large map where they must scrounge for weapons and gear before taking out their opponents. The game’s first season reportedly begins in March. At that time, players can buy its Battle Pass to unlock challenges and cosmetic items. More characters, skins, and weapons are also expected in the near future.<doc-sep>Twitch Rivals Apex Legends tournament standings after Week 1 Twitch Rivals Apex Legends kicked off on Tuesday. Which team of streamers is sitting at the top of the mountain after the first week? The Twitch Rivals Apex Legends Tournament is going down this week, testing the mettle of some of the world's best streamers. Apex Legends has only been out in the wild for a week, but the top streamers on Twitch are already getting to work on who the best players in the world are. The participants range from well-known variety streamers to hardened esports ringers and all of them are vying for their share of $200,000. For the uninitiated, Twitch Rivals Apex Legends sees 16 teams of three jump into Apex Legends throughout a designated time period. Across that time, they'll rack up five points for every team win and one point for every kill they manage to score. February 12 saw the European and North American participants do battle, with a second chance to rack up more points next week. Here's how the standings look after the first week: North America 1. Kings Canyon (King Richard, Ninja, Dizzy): 420 points (13 wins, 355 kills) (King Richard, Ninja, Dizzy): 420 points (13 wins, 355 kills) 2. Reids Money Team (chocotaco, vsnz, huskerrs): 419 points (10 wins, 369 kills) (chocotaco, vsnz, huskerrs): 419 points (10 wins, 369 kills) 3. The Broys (Shroud, Skadoodle, Just9n): 383 points (9 wins, 338 kills) (Shroud, Skadoodle, Just9n): 383 points (9 wins, 338 kills) 4. Team Pepega (Lirik, shortyyguy, Seagull): 368 points (10 wins, 313 kills) (Lirik, shortyyguy, Seagull): 368 points (10 wins, 313 kills) 5. VissRespect the Kraft (DrDisrespect, TSM_Viss, RealKraftyy): 336 points (11 wins, 281 kills) (DrDisrespect, TSM_Viss, RealKraftyy): 336 points (11 wins, 281 kills) 6. Summit, Josh & Buhbye (Summit1g, JoshOG, Buhhbye): 323 points (9 wins, 278 kills) (Summit1g, JoshOG, Buhhbye): 323 points (9 wins, 278 kills) 7. The 95 Blockbuster Champions (TimTheTatman, HighDistortion, Jay3): 295 points (8 wins, 255 kills) (TimTheTatman, HighDistortion, Jay3): 295 points (8 wins, 255 kills) 8. Team MDK (Annemunition, Bnans, lil_lexi): 131 points (3 wins, 116 kills) Europe 1. Team MANE (Gotaga, Mickalow, Robi): 399 points (12 wins, 339 kills) (Gotaga, Mickalow, Robi): 399 points (12 wins, 339 kills) 2. Team Nordics (Forsen, kowa, orb): 362 points (10 wins, 312 kills) (Forsen, kowa, orb): 362 points (10 wins, 312 kills) 3. POG TEAM (Welovegames, i1ame_ru, makataO): 305 points (9 wins, 260 kills) (Welovegames, i1ame_ru, makataO): 305 points (9 wins, 260 kills) 4. ZF (Cyanideplaysgames, Sombrero, Edberg): 290 points (9 wins, 245 points) (Cyanideplaysgames, Sombrero, Edberg): 290 points (9 wins, 245 points) 5. Team APEXTOSOS (Lolitofdez, Rubius, Xisma): 257 points (9 wins, 212 kills) (Lolitofdez, Rubius, Xisma): 257 points (9 wins, 212 kills) 6. the Kingsmen (Sacriel, Stodeh, Break): 251 points (9 wins, 206 kills) (Sacriel, Stodeh, Break): 251 points (9 wins, 206 kills) 7. Die drei agilen Konige o7 (Mcky, Trymacs, xHankyy): 163 points (2 wins, 153 kills) (Mcky, Trymacs, xHankyy): 163 points (2 wins, 153 kills) 8. Salty Sandwich (JimPanseee, MeLoOniE, Maihopawango): 141 points (4 wins, 121 kills) These teams will return next Tuesday, February 19 and look to add to their totals, with Europe starting at 9AM PT and North America starting at 2PM PT. Find more information on the Smash.gg event page. Those interested in following along can watch these players on their individual Twitch channels or follow from Twitch HQ by watching on the Twitch Rivals channel. For those who are interested in getting into Apex Legends for themselves, it is free to play right now on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. If you're looking for more news or even some pointers, be sure to follow our continuing coverage of Respawn's battle royale shooter.<doc-sep>
Apex Legends is already proving popular both with players and with the ever-shifting Twitch community. The game maintains one of the top spots on Twitch and has since it released last week. Some of the most popular battle royale streamers, like Shroud and Ninja have spent plenty of time streaming the game while a number of variety streamers are making it part of their regular rotation — this popularity was helped, at least early on, by EA sponsoring some of these streamers to spend some time with Apex Legends on stream. Now Twitch itself is even getting into Apex Legends with its Twitch Rivals tournament series. Twitch Rivals has covered games like Fortnite and League of Legends in the past and generally serves as a chance for Twitch to bring together some of its most popular streamers to compete in popular games. While tournaments are always hallmark of popular new games, it’s rare that they come about as quickly as this one has. Apex Legends was only released on Monday, Feb. 4, meaning that it only took about a week for the game’s first major tournament to be organized. As with most Twitch Rivals events, this tournament will be hosted online with streamers broadcasting their own perspectives while Twitch hosts its own show, swapping between different perspectives in-studio. Each player and their squad will compete in their own public matches. Each kill will be worth one point and each win will be worth five, at the end of the competition, teams will add up their scores with the highest teams getting a share of the $50,000 prize pool. The Twitch Rivals Apex Legends tournament will begin with a European tournament that starts at 12 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Feb. 12. Following that, the North American section of the tournament — with streamers like DrDisrespect, Shroud, DisguisedToast, and TSM Myth — will start at 4 p.m. ET. All of the action from the tournament can be seen on any participating streamer’s channel or on the official Twitch Rivals channel.