Samsung Odyssey Invitational – How not to make an Apex Event

Apex Legends
December 16, 2021
Jordan Ashley

Apex legends has been on a bit of a victory tour in 2021, the game has gone from strengths to strength. Its popularity peaked above its initial launch, the game showed staying power it previously didn’t have, and its esports scene has been more active than ever before. However, it hasn’t all been great. The Samsung Odyssey Invitational almost feels like an event held just to show how wrong things can possibly go. It was a mess, but a mess in ways that are bafflingly incompetent. This is what happened and why it all went so wrong.

Samsung Odyssey Invitational

Samsung Odyssey Invitational

The Samsung Odyssey Invitational was held over December 15th. The event was organized by Samsung, with a $100,000 prize pool on offer. This isn’t an insubstantial amount for Apex, and only 16 teams were in competition. The event was played over six rounds with teams competing to rack up points. Eventually, Team Sweetdreams came out ahead. They beat the second place by more than 30 points, demonstrating clear domination in the tournament.

However, the main story here isn’t really the winner of the tournament itself. Instead, it was the complete lack of forethought with the organization at the Samsung Odyssey Invitational.

What Went Wrong at the Samsung Odyssey Invitational?

There were quite a few major problems with the Odyssey invitational, but they mainly come down to poor organization. For a start, the event was poorly advertised and wasn’t exactly being treated as the tier of event that the prize pool demands. On top of that, the rules were bizarrely simplistic. Teams could essentially work together throughout games without violating any rules. Anyone who has played a Battle Royale for even a minute should know how much of a problem this is.

The Samsung Odyssey Invitational saw amateurs competing alongside actual Apex pro players. This naturally means that some payers weren’t exactly familiar with high-level performance in the game, or even the more core mechanics needed for competitive play. Things were not on a level playing field. However, that’s just how things went for the players that were actually allowed to play.

Several of the content creators that took part were only contacted about the event the night before it took place. This is just bizarre when there is $100,000 on the line. Does the term ‘Invitational’ even apply when you’re invited the night before then promptly uninvited?

Some players were told that the lobby was full and turned away from were competing altogether. This lowers the total number of teams from 20 to 16. Even those who have decent notice only had days to put a team together.

If a Tournament Takes Place and No One Keeps Track, Did it Even Happen?

xQc took part in the Samsung Odyssey Invitational and was generally outgunned by actual Apex pros. However, even he struggled to even find the standings. He couldn’t find a public broadcast or a live updating score, so had to rely on his Twitch chat to keep track of the score for him.

There wasn’t even a clear way to see how many games were left to play. Players were just scrambling in the dark. This was barely a tournament without this. The event did manage to rack up over 100,000 viewers across streams, but organizers didn’t even provide the most basic infrastructure.

As above, more established organizers in Apex have called out the source of these problems. Refusing to work with anyone who has organizing experience in a game can lead to these kinds of problems. Inexperienced organizers can’t just throw up a big prize pool and hope for the best.

The Odyssey was a bizarre tournament. It is difficult to figure out how exactly it went this wrong. Obviously, these organizers probably shouldn’t be trying to host more of their own tournaments any time soon. The event was definitely a disappointment. If you’re looking for events for Apex Legends betting and to see some of the top players compete, it is probably best to look past Samsung ones for a little while.