Knockout City - Is the ESPORT train left? - Knockout City

Knockout City (KC) appeared in May 2021 and was able to ensure change in the sports games market with its unique approach. For publication, however, the question is in the room whether the game can also establish itself in the ESPORT market. This question still remains open two months later. What is the current status of Knockout City and what do the developers say about espport?

Dwinding player and audience numbers

In our test, we have found that Knockout City is a fun multiplayer game, but it could be lacking the title on long-term motivation. This impression seems to have, for the time being, for the time being.

At the beginning of June, only a few weeks after publication, developer Velan Studios reported that Knockout City has reached a player's five million player. This is of course an impressive number, but this value can be misleading.

The game had an open beta and since publishing a free trial, thanks to the Knockout City can play for free up to a certain time. This low entry hurdle has certainly moved many players to try it for a few rounds. In addition, the players could not be kept suspected, however.

Since Knockout City is available on all common platforms, no detailed specification can be made to game numbers. On Steam, however, a strong play of player is observed: KC had an average of about 3,000 simultaneous players in the release month of May, this number has shrunk to about 500 for July. The same is observed on Twitch. The month of May still saw an average of about 8,800 simultaneous spectators, in July, this value fell steeply to about 783.

Knockout City Esport is to grow slowly

But Knockout City can generally establish itself in the game market, or even in the escort? The developers continue to work on providing fresh content continuously and promise to publish a new season every nine weeks.

For Season 2, Velan Studios has demonstrated that: further development of the game, an exciting new map and another kind of ball are now available.

But is that enough for a vibrant competitive community? From the beginning, the question of Knockout City Esport was one that the Velan and EA have answered more reserved. The esport should slowly grow up and driven by the community, it was said from the beginning. Also talking to Kicker Esport Karthik Bala, CEO of Velan Studios, this setting:

"We as a developer could not say 'We are now doing an espport'. The community decides if it becomes an espport or not. We support you active."

Interest in Knockout City Esport is quite in the small but seemingly dedicated community. Already in the beta there were first tournaments and the launch a big live event. In addition, small organizations such as Odin Esports have established leagues conducted by the community. Bala and his team were positive "totally shocked by the great interest."

They also want to support the development: "We slowly move in this direction. We take part in the Dreamhack with the ESL and always make such once events." He stresses, however, that everything should remain in the small frame first: "These things are slowly build up, so first do not expect anything huge. We still believe that this will develop over time."

Professionalized ESPORT for Knockout City is still far away. The game must first be developed and underfurted with additional content. With every new season, however, the potential rises to attract and hold new players and spectators. Whether one day Neballball-Esport can set up next to Autoball-Esport a La Rocket League, but remains questionable to the current time.

_WEADER_GAMING News _ and everything from the world of escort is available on_earlygame

Faris Delalic