Parasite believes Call of Duty Challengers is already failing

Call of Duty’s Challengers scene could be in trouble early into the 2020 cycle according to veteran competitor Christopher ‘Parasite’ Duarte.

Call of Duty Challengers is a path-to-pro format that intends to promote the best up and coming talent around the world. However, rosters competing in the scene appear to be experiencing a great deal of hardship early into the year.

While the premier competition in the Call of Duty scene has been enjoying international tournaments with major prize pools throughout the inaugural Call of Duty League season, its amateur counterpart could be in jeopardy just a few months in, according to Parasite.

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Having competed since the early days of Call of Duty, Parasite is an extremely accomplished player, even boasting a ring from the very first Call of Duty Championships in 2013 under Fariko Impact. Yet the veteran missed out on landing a spot in the newly established league.

Dropping into the Challengers scene instead, he has outlined why just a few months in, the amateur scene already appears to be dwindling. 

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Despite frequent online tournaments and each CDL homestand event running a simultaneous Challengers tournament with a minimum of $10,000 USD up for grabs, Parasite has outlined the difficulties of trying to compete in the scene.

“The Challenger scene is chalked,” he put bluntly. “No org sees a reason to send teams to any home series.”

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Competing out of the United States, Parasite currently sits in 10th place on the North American ladder in regard to Pro Points points and his roster finished in the top 12 of 168 teams at the CDL launch event in Minnesota. 

Despite strong performances thus far throughout the Modern Warfare cycle, it appears as though North American organizations are hesitant to back his team and support them when traveling to various events throughout the year. 

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With eight of the remaining 11 CDL events taking place in North American locales, the travel for his team wouldn’t be quite as expensive when compared to international rosters, yet local esports brands refuse to dip their toes in the scene for a number of reasons, according to Parasite.

“Besides the majors left, it’s a struggle getting an org to invest let alone send any team to these tournaments.” When citing the reasons as to why he feels organizations won’t enter the scene, he outlines how the lack of a “stream, [and] low prize pools” makes it “literally pointless.” 

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A difficult sell to local esports brands, he argues that the lack of promotion through an official broadcast, and minimal prizing is why the scene might already be ‘chalked.’

While the barrier to entry might be high, certain teams have been reaping the rewards of the Challengers scene lately and making a name for themselves.

You can keep up to date with all the latest Challengers results with our rundown of CDL London’s side-event.