Analysts have forecasted for Blizzard’s shooter Overwatch (PC, PS4, Xbox One). The scenarios for an Overwatch League look promising.
A new report from investment firm Morgan Stanley reveals: A professional eSports league for Overwatch is a cash cow for Blizzard. And the cash cow doesn’t just produce gold once, but could generate revenue annually.
In the best case, Blizzard could earn as much money with an Overwatch League in a year as the WWE – this is the so-called “Bull Case”, the best-case scenario when everything takes off.
As much money as the WWE in the best scenario
In the best possible scenario outlined by Morgan Stanley, an Overwatch League could generate up to 720 million US dollars per year – that would be about 665 million euros. This would make the Overwatch League as lucrative as the wrestling organization WWE.
To rake in that much money, Blizzard would need to double the Overwatch League from 16 to 32 teams, and it would need to really hit big. “Major League Gaming” would really need to become the “ESPN” of eSports, as Blizzard has announced. ESPN is the big sports network in the USA – like Sport1 with us, just much, much bigger.
The numbers range from 20-720 million dollars per year – 100 million seems quite likely
The “smallest scenario”, if Blizzard doesn’t succeed with the Overwatch League, isn’t so bad either. Then Blizzard would still generate 20 million US dollars annually with the Overwatch League, according to Morgan Stanley.
These are the two extremes. A normal scenario sees the Overwatch League at around 100 million US dollars:
32 million comes from advertising and content offers in this scenario,
30 more million from sponsors.
13 million, it is believed, Blizzard could earn through ticket sales,
27 million could be generated by Blizzard through merchandise.
Morgan Stanley outlines four possible scenarios for how the league develops:
eSport goes Mainstream – everything runs perfectly, many viewers, revenue flows, the venues are full, sponsors come on board
Play but no pay – many viewers, but hardly any revenue, as no one goes to the tournaments and sponsors are hesitant
A Niche following – only hardcore gamers watch, who pay as male millennials nonetheless
It’s a fad – total flop, Overwatch turns out to be a short-lived phenomenon like rollerblades, nobody is interested in Overwatch anymore
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