Blizzard has now confirmed that the Overwatch League, as it was held since 2018, will no longer continue: The eSports league for Overwatch was based on city-based franchise teams like in US sports leagues. Critics now say that was always the problem.
This was the idea of the Overwatch League:
- The Overwatch League was announced in 2016 and launched in 2018 with 12 teams from the USA, Europe, and Asia. Each of the teams paid $20 million to participate in the league. In 2019, 8 more teams even paid higher amounts for spots in the league.
- The idea was that each team was linked to a city and the teams would ultimately play against each other on-site. Teams existed in cities like Dallas, Seoul, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Houston, London, or Toronto. The teams belonged to gaming companies and eSports teams such as NetEase, Gen G, Cloud9, NRG, or Misfits.
- However, ultimately Covid derailed the “on-site” plans. Additionally, the Overwatch League was already under a bad star from the beginning because the hype for Overwatch was already threatened by Fortnite in 2018.
The most well-known gamer that Overwatch has produced:
Sexism scandal at Blizzard and exit in China endangered the league
This is now the end of the league: There have been concerns for some time that the league would not continue after 2023. As PC Gamer reports, in the wake of the sexism scandal at Blizzard, several sponsors withdrew their support. Furthermore, the loss of the partnership with NetEase in China further harmed the league.
What are the 3 Chinese teams supposed to do when Overwatch is no longer available in their region?
Therefore, Blizzard urged the teams to vote on their continued participation in the league. Those who gave up their spot were promised $6 million from Activision Blizzard.
Now the “Toronto Defiant” team has withdrawn from the league and, as PC Gamer reports, the majority of the teams reportedly voted to leave the league.
In a statement, Activision Blizzard confirms that the Overwatch League in its current form will not return and that they will develop Overwatch esports in a different direction.
The city concept never worked
These are the comments: On reddit people critically discuss the league. The only part of the league that was “innovative” was convincing enough people that it was a good idea to invest in the Overwatch League instead of other, better eSports leagues.
Especially the idea of linking eSports teams to specific cities is seen as weak. Blizzard also forced teams to provide arenas which ultimately were hardly used. The plan to actually play on-site could only be carried out for a few weeks.
One user says: The idea that a team would be successful and make a lot of money just because you print the name of a city on it is absurd. Teams do not gain high support in a city this way; the support would have to grow over time.
If football teams were new in a city, it would take decades for them to truly settle and take root there. You cannot simply achieve that.
The young stars left early for other games
This is what lies behind it: The end of the league has been seen coming for some years now. It started with poor timing:
- when the league was announced, hero shooters were in full hype
- when the league started, the hype had already diminished significantly and everything was focused on battle royale games
The league was always laughed at by fans of other eSports titles that had organically grown, such as CS:GO, DOTA 2, or LoL, as a plastic league that Blizzard had pulled out of the ground in a short time.
Ultimately, the “stars” of Overwatch left early either, they either went to streaming or to Valorant – that was not a good sign.
The many problems Blizzard faced in recent years and the eSports winter ultimately became too much. Especially since the game “Overwatch” itself developed oddly: after an initial upswing, the development of Overwatch was abruptly halted in favor of Overwatch 2, which ultimately, after some content cuts, seemed more like a nonsensical DLC rather than a new title.
The high initial investments that companies made to allow teams to participate in the league are something many would surely like to have back today.
In 2018, we were still asking whether Overwatch or Fortnite would become the new eSports super title. Today we know: neither did.
Fortnite vs. Overwatch: Who will create eSports 2.0 and become number 1?
