The game director of Overwatch Jeff Kaplan has big plans for the online shooter and eSports. They aim to compete with traditional sports!
The Overwatch League has started and is already celebrating early successes. On the very first game day, over 400,000 interested viewers watched the first games of Blizzard’s eSports spectacle on Twitch.
But where does Blizzard actually want to go with eSports? This was revealed by Jeff Kaplan, the game director of Overwatch, in several interviews with invenglobal and gamespot.
According to Kaplan, Blizzard is trying, even though it is often accused of this, not to “casualize” Overwatch, but instead to filter out the elements that professionals enjoy and make them accessible to the general public. This is also the goal with eSports. They do not want to reach just the hardcore fans, but also gain new viewers.
The feedback so far has been predominantly positive, which is also evident from many Reddit posts in the last few hours. Most fans are completely satisfied with the presentation of the Overwatch League, which is largely due to the numerous improvements in the spectator mode.
Skeptics should also be convinced
Many people may still roll their eyes when they hear that “computer games” are considered a sport. Kaplan wants these people to possibly have an “aha” moment and recognize how much passion and performance is also involved in eSports and how skilled the professionals are.
Jeff Kaplan fondly remembers how he felt the first time he was in a stadium. Just the memory of it brings him recurring pleasant feelings. He hopes a new generation of fans will grow up who might find similar enjoyment in Overwatch as a sport and will one day look back at the first Overwatch League with such memories.
Kaplan hopes that in a few years, eSports can stand on equal footing with traditional sports like soccer or baseball, as the passion behind it is the same.
What do you think of the Overwatch League so far? Do you think Blizzard has implemented the format well? Or is the spark just not flying?
All dates and information about the current season of the Overwatch League can be found here!
