Valve has released a DPC Team Profile feature in the client, but noticeably there are mistakes and the team bundles are still missing.
The second season of DPC 2021 is underway —in fact, league play is almost halfway over. For a season with only two Majors leading up to TI10, it signals that the competitive year is nearing the end.
But that didn't stop Valve from releasing their new DPC Team Profile feature in the client for fans to keep track of their favorite teams.
Or at least that was the hope.
You can check out profiles for all Division I and Division II teams by heading to the Watch section of the game. Click on any team to visit their hub which contains team and player stats plus top heroes. You'll also find each team's season schedule which provides an easy way to view upcoming opponents or watch past replays. Stay tuned for more updates as we move through the season of play.
However, there are some serious errors in the information.
Some of the obvious mistakes include:
- Team join date
- Player join date (some have the player's first match with the team even if they left after that such as s4 listed for Alliance in 2012, for others it is just wrong)
- Wrong rankings (Thunder Predator is listed above beastcoast for this season. Both teams are 3:0 in series but beastcoast is 6:0 in games while Thunder Predator is 6:2).
- Teams were to submit photos of the players to Valve, however, the ones used are from photos used in previous TI's and not all players even have photos.
- Some player photos are of the wrong player (Galaxy Racer Esports player Meracle is shown with Team Nigma's player Miracle photo)
- Some team logos are wrong (SG Esports in SA upper-division)
Feels like a rushed, shoddy job for a billion dollar company to release a product in this condition. Also, this last point also begs the question, where are the team bundles that were promised more than three months ago at the start of the DPC 2021 Season?
The fan bundles were supposed to be a way for fans to support their favorite teams financially. By purchasing these, part of all sales would be funneled directly to the teams. For unsponsored teams or those in lower ranks, it would be a nice boost to their ecosystem.
Sadly, teams without their own graphic designers on staff had to commission artists for the work. That meant an investment that was costly and so far there has been no way to recuperate that as of yet. There are only three weeks left of gameplay for the lower division teams and at least half of the upper-division teams —TI qualifiers notwithstanding.
Team profiles will not only provide a way for you to stay connected to your favorite teams, but they will also be an integral part of the upcoming fan content system that’s currently in the works.
Even if these bundles get implemented in time for the regional qualifiers, the revenue received by teams will certainly be much lower with such a late rollout, potentially not even covering the costs of creating them.
If past history is any indicator, updates to the DPC Team Profile might take weeks to fix and Team Bundles might end up being something only the teams participating in TI might have.
