In the past few years, gaming has broken the alcove corners of the globe and is becoming more mainstream with time. This gaming industry has one game named ‘Apex Legends’ in its list where the legendary gamer ‘ImperialHal’ would make you do a double-take with his skills.
Skilled gamers are gaining popularity with every passing day, and so is ImperialHal. But, the vital question that overtakes the mind is- is his gameplay the only reason for his accelerating recognition among the clan?
Before we answer this, let us take a sneak peek into the two basic involvements:
- The game – Apex Legends
- The gamer – ImperialHal
Then, dive into the conclusion about his popularity.
Apex Legends
Apex Legends, a shooting game that Respawn Entertainment and Electronic Arts developed and published. The game has been available on Microsoft, Xbox One, and Playstation 4 since February 2019 and came to Nintendo Switch in March 2021.
Here, you are free to launch yourself in the sky and dodge bullets in the air sideways, throwing a mini black hole on the enemy base and the other teammate fires a hellfire of mortars on them.
The matches never fail to allure the player to dodge, slide, and fire a sniper rifle.
The game tests your skills. If you have them then, you can even win a match when you are out of weapons with no attachments. The design of the game is such that your aim is more important than your luck.
Yes, for all those gun lovers, Apex is an apt source to feel them all, as with every new season, a new weapon adds up to the game. Even customization of the weapon is available to make the gameplay more susceptible.
Currently, the game consists of three big Battle Royale maps – Kings Canyon, World’s Edge, and Olympus. Each map encourages your survival urge and is not monotonous due to the changing landscape and size. Kings Canyon is the smallest map and, over the years, has changed numerous locations.
World’s Edge is the second biggest map in the game that offers you great rotation because of its size. Olympus was the most recent map introduced a few seasons back and is the most mesmerizing one with the only map to contain a vehicle.
There are also three small arenas maps – Party Crasher and Phase Runner, and Overflow.
It is the best go-to game when you are looking for fun and competitiveness. The game can never be boring because every match it consists of is different from the other, even though every match has the same map or mode.
After playing for hours, you will still find yourself saying, “Just one more game.”
Those who never knew about the game, this is your chance to play it and add one more game to your list.
ImperialHal
A young American player born on May 31, 1999, Philip Dosen, also known as ImperialHal, is the professional player of Apex Legends and currently plays for TSM.
He is a Twitch streamer, and many young gamers look up to him as an inspiration and aspire to his skills.
Talking about his rankings, he stands at 1268 in the world and 251 in his country with an annual income of $115,584 from his tournaments, excluding his earnings from Twitch and Youtube (according to the sources available).
Before being a professional Apex Legends player, he was a Fortnite player as well. He has won some tournaments with TSM: Code Red Charity Tournament, TwitchCon San Diego, ALGS, etc.
ImperialHal once said,
“It was just a hobby, and I had no idea that it would turn into an actual career- a living career. Initially, as a hobby, he used to play it on a bad laptop, but after receiving a certain amount earned from gaming he brought his PC.”
The H1Z1 elite series in Atlanta hailed chapters, and their performance was enough to get signed by cloud9 for the upcoming H1Z1 roster of April 2018. Hal’s esports career was secured until life threw him a curveball. In 2018, when H1Z1 collapsed, so did Hal’s career, but this did not stop him. Though Hal’s esports career was not a choice but a chance, he never gave up this chance and looked for new gaming opportunities.
In 2018 Fortnite was in demand, and if you are a Battle Royale player, then it is a must for you to check it out, so did ImperialHal. Unfortunately, the game did not hit him that hard, and still, it is oblivious to him. Not so impressed by Fornite, ImperialHal tried Apex as soon as it was launched. This instant switch was the reason why he started playing Apex.
What makes people question his popularity?
It is impossible to ignore ImperialHal’s gameplay, but many do not consider it the reason for his growing fame.
Apex Legends is also a Battle Royale hero shooter game and offers much more opportunities than H1Z1. After signing with Kim Solomon in March 2019, TSM was unstoppable. TSM’s rise culminated at the Apex Legends pre-season invitational. TSM was on top of the young Apex World, and it was for the first time that Hal had a 10,000 dollar grand prize in his esports career.
The global pandemic helped players strike from home and represent their point of view. Being a creator, as well as a player, boosted Hal’s popularity immediately, but many considered that the reason for his popularity was not just his skills but thanks to something else.
ImperialHal is gaining popularity from the competitive game streams or through ranked game streaming during his free time, people have a judgemental opinion always. Some consider his blunt language the reason for his popularity and consider him ‘toxic’.
As his teammates also confirm that Hal is emotional during a certain game, so much so that if he dies in a dumb way then there is constant yelling in the room. This interpretation of his tone, harsh and brutal, made people doubt his popularity.
Being blunt is normal, and being called toxic is too. No matter what you do, negative opinions will still pertain.
ImperialHal is competitive when it is about his profession – gaming, and when it comes to Apex, he does not know how to turn it down. It is easy to reach the top but not to stay there.
So, it’s the unique style and approach that gets people talking about it, not just the words he uses. Hal is an inspiration to the coming players because he stands as a perfect example of no matter what people say about you or even if they call you toxic, being deeply competitive will make you touch the glory.
ImperialHal says,
“If you ever want to get better, play how I do, play like you have no care, you want to push everybody, play solo pubs, try 1v3, and how you get better.”
Do you consider him to be a legendary player or toxic? Let us know in the comment section below!