GamesFPSOverwatch 22 months after killing the Overwatch League, Blizzard teams up with Saudi Arabia’s esports org for ‘a new era of Overwatch esports’When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
GamesFPSOverwatch 22 months after killing the Overwatch League, Blizzard teams up with Saudi Arabia’s esports org for ‘a new era of Overwatch esports’When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Blizzard)
As promised, Blizzard has unveiled “the next chapter” of professional Overwatch esports: TheOverwatch Champions Series, a multi-region competitive circuit that will culminate in two major tournaments at Dreamhack.
“A thriving esports scene is important to a game as competitive as Overwatch 2, and we’re very excited to be entering this next era for the franchise with EFG,” Overwatch 2 executive producer Jared Neuss said.
(Image credit: Blizzard)
Blizzard said when itended the Overwatch Leaguethat it was “evolving competitive Overwatch in a new direction,” and it’s not surprising to see it move toward a more typical esports structure. The idea of establishing an esports league in a format similar to conventional pro sports leagues, with city-based teams competing in home-and-away games over a set schedule, was bold but never caught on.
Live competitions, a central element of the Overwatch League plan, were shut down before they really got underway due to the Covid-19 pandemic, while theexpenseof operating teams andworkplace misconduct scandalatActivisionBlizzard—whichdrove away major advertisers—took a further toll. Activision first acknowledged in May 2023 that the Overwatch League was in trouble, and finally ended it in November 2023, although it promised information on “a revitalized esports program … in the near future,” which apparently is now.
Today, we are excited to introduce the new Overwatch Esports program and the Overwatch Champions Series!🔗 Read our Blog https://t.co/rZ3FeYR6aL pic.twitter.com/0MKtSv3FufJanuary 23, 2024
Today, we are excited to introduce the new Overwatch Esports program and the Overwatch Champions Series!🔗 Read our Blog https://t.co/rZ3FeYR6aL pic.twitter.com/0MKtSv3FufJanuary 23, 2024
Even with the shift to a typical esports format, the Overwatch Champions League faces a couple of big challenges. For one, Blizzard still doesn’t have a publishing partner for Overwatch in China: Players in China lost access to it and other Blizzard games in January 2023 because of afalling-out with NetEase, a situation that remains unresolved. Today’s announcement of the new league didn’t comment on that situation but in a statement provided to PC Gamer, Blizzard said “OWCS competition is only offered in countries with current ongoing support for the Overwatch 2 Live Service,” something China currently does not have.
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Another issue is the current state of Overwatch 2, which associate editor Tyler Colp recently described as “turbulent.” Earlier in January, Blizzard announced a major change to the game that will see all players given aself-healing ability, reducing their reliance on support players and turning a game that “used to celebrate teamwork” into one where the fastest (or biggest) gun will win the day.
Simplifying the Overwatch 2 meta in that way might make life less frustrating for casual players in pickup games, which is Blizzard’s stated goal. But stamping complexities to make Overwatch 2 more accessible to casual players may not serve the pro scene well.
Blizzard later said that the addition of self-healing is only “one part of a much larger set of changescoming to the game” in season nine. Maybe the full suite of changes will add as much as it takes away, but for now that uncertainty looms large. But Colp warned in his analysis that “if Blizzard overcorrects too many times, players might start to lose their patience as they scramble to keep up with a game that can’t seem to figure itself out,” and if that starts to happen I don’t think it’s very likely they’ll stick around to watch the pro scene either.
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