ALGS U-turn: Respawn Entertainment Reverses Decision, Prohibits Active Coaching

The Apex Legends Global Series Pro League is currently underway and there were some concerns about active coaching during matches. Players from NRG, TSM and others raised concerns about coaches being allowed to communicate with players during the game. Respawn had initially prohibited active coaching but then decided to allow it. Now, after concerns were raised by organisations and players, ALGS decided to revert back to prohibiting active coaching during the matches. The official Apex Legends Esports account tweeted out saying that the five minute stream delay would be extended to a 10-minute delay and active coaching would be prohibited ahead of this weekend’s Pro League matches.

ALGS Active Coaching Disrupted the Playing Field

The active coaching rule was unpopular among coaches and players since it gave some teams a massively unfair advantage over the others. Coaches could potentially watch the ALGS broadcast and give their players important information about the next ring and where other teams are. While there is a five-minute delay in the stream, it would not mean much during the late game where players hunker down in particular areas till the next ring area is revealed. Teams that did not have coaches were also at a huge disadvantage.

To level the playing field, ALGS decided to reimplement the prohibition on coaching during the match and decided to increase the minimum Apex Legends Global Series Pro League stream delay from five minutes to ten minutes.

In a bid to tackle the potential for foul play, the ALGS has now made two important changes. Coaches are no longer allowed to communicate directly with players in the middle of a match, unlike in the previous ALGS season.

The official match rules on the ALGS Battlefy website have been amended to the following:

• During a match series, any communication between Competitors on different Teams are required to go through the Official ALGS Discord servers or in-Game match lobby.

• While a match is in progress, the only permissible communication is communication between the three (3) Competitors who are actively participating in the match on the same Team.