Since the dawn of multiplayer video games, competition has always ended with some reward. Sometimes symbolic, like the pride you feel after a significant win over a sibling or friend. Other times, it comes in the shape of dollar signs and ready-to-display hardware.
The esports world is known and loved for its high-level gameplay, variety in personalities, and global talent. No matter the game, at the end of the show, only one winner can stand tall and have the honor to lift the coveted trophy. That is, if the trophy looks like a coveted prize to begin with.
Choices in style, material, and execution can make all the difference when bringing a concept to reality. But when these specific choices are all the wrong ones, it makes for very funny-looking statues that should have stayed in the drafts. Without further ado, here are four of the worst trophies ever in esports.
1. CS:GO Flashpoint Gun trophy
Think like a pro-player for a second. You grind for years at your game. You travel to a LAN. You have a great showing, so much so that you make it to the finals. You play your best match of the tournament and finally, you win it all in front of a live studio and thousands of fans across the world. Then, you get to lift this abomination over your head.
That’s precisely what happened to Virtus.pro and Mousesports orgs in the early 2020s in Flashpoint’s CS:GO series. Looking at it, this trophy does not inspire excellence; it inspires memes. Thank goodness conservative families don’t understand internet culture; otherwise, the FPS community would not be able to live down the fact that the prize was a shiny AK-47. At the base of the hardware, Flashpoint’s name is discreetly shown. Probably the only classy thing about this entry.
2. CS:GO Blast Major trophy
Man, CS:GO tourneys can’t get it right, can they? A trophy straight out of a Nickelodeon award show, Blast.tv thought it was a great idea to print its logo on a goopy neon base to commemorate their Paris 2023 LAN event, and boy, is it foul-looking.
The triangle is as sophisticated as geometry can get, yet it’s obnoxiously overshadowed by a couple of creative decisions that tear down whatever good intentions the original concept had. From its cheap, plasticy material to the hideous color combination, it’s clear as day that trophy designing isn’t for everyone, and that this is a trophy you don’t display in your headquarters.
3. PUBG GLL Grand Slam trophy
Before anything else, trophies should shine. They are the highest honor, so they deserve to be showcased as the shiniest prize. That’s what GLL Grand Slam seems to have thought before 3D printing their PUBG trophy in 2019.
Less is more, especially when more is awful. A smooth, rounded base turned into a chunk with in-game characters picking up a crate, Atlas-style, with the tournament logo and game plastered in the middle of it all in big, black lettering.
Aesthetic and taste should be the number one priority when commissioning one of these pieces, but when the original concept is overdone to the point of no return, not even rose pink gold can save this North of the Border sculpture from criticism.
4. Fortnite FNCS trophy
You read that right. Fortnite’s highest achievement is trying really hard to pass off this Swarovski-made junk as a work of art. Trophies should be distinguishable by their silhouette. When you need to print your league’s logo dead center with a contemporary art shape, you know you’re in big trouble in the branding department. At least they got the shiny parts right.
It’s not even that it’s that ugly; most definitely the most aesthetic trophy from this list, which isn’t saying much. It’s instead the high standard that needs to be met, given the league’s calibre and the game’s reach, that leaves so much to desire from a placeholder look with plenty of unfinished details. Any trophy with this much exposure can become iconic, but it won’t make it any less ugly.
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