Arena mode: why it failed

For once, it's not his loadout stopping people from playing with him. Photo by Gen. DeGroot.
For once, it’s not his loadout stopping people from playing with him. All photos this post by Gen. DeGroot.
Arena. We all know it’s a dead mode. Sure, there have been other modes that Valve dropped, like Special Delivery or Territory Control. But Arena was the only one with a considerable push behind it, starting with not just one map, but five: Lumberyard, Badlands, Ravine, Granary, and Well. It even received four more maps after its initial push. But despite this key difference, the mode still died. Why? Well, in short, it’s not very good. Why? There are a few reasons.