Matchpoint: What is a matchpoint in competitive gaming?

In a competitive game with multiple points or rounds, a match point refers to a moment in the title when a team or a player is about to win. This happens when a team or player gets enough points or wins enough rounds where they need to win only one more to achieve victory in the match. Games with match points include Rocket League, Rainbow Six Siege ^[1], Valorant, and Counter-Strike.

In titles like Valorant and Counter-Strike 2, if the game is in a match point and the losing team manages to catch up to the same amount of wins or points, the game goes into overtime. Then, players have to win or score at least one more time to win. In Valorant, a team has to win two times in a row to win, or in Counter-Strike 2’s case, a team has to win four rounds in a total of 8.

Comparing Match Point Across Different Game Genres

Every game has a match point at different moments in the match. In Valorant, a match point is triggered when a team has won 12 rounds, after which they need to win one more. It’s the same in Counter-Strike 2 unless the game goes into overtime, after which the match point is after 15 wins. 

In fighting games like Tekken 8 ^[2], there are two types of match points. First is a per-match basis, where it triggers when a player wins two rounds and then has to win a final round. The second is on a set basis, where two fighters can rematch in a best of 3, so they need one win to trigger a set’s match point.

References

1. [1] "Rainbow Six Siege official website". www.ubisoft.com. Retrieved May 30, 2024
2. [2] "Tekken 8 official website". en.bandainamcoent.eu. Retrieved May 30, 2024