When the Overwatch League got announced last year at Blizzcon 2016, fans, professional Overwatch gamers and organisations were abuzz with excitement. And then came the information drought. Snippets of information over the next few months were leaked, most of which set up the daunting task that is creating an entire competitive league for a relatively new game, one with a fledgeling competitive scene.
The league will see competitive organisations bid to represent cities around the world. Once an organisation has successfully bid and acquired a city, they will then begin to form a roster of players to represent the city (assuming they do not already have a team formed). As a result, Blizzard is hoping fans will support their home teams, much like in traditional sports.
Finally, months after its announcement, Blizzard has unveiled the initial seven organisations that have bought home cities in the League, although only three of them currently have teams tied to their cities. New team owners include:
- Robert Kraft, Chairman and CEO of the Kraft Group and the New England Patriots (Boston)
- Jeff Wilpon, Co-Founder and Partner of Sterling.VC and COO of the New York Mets (New York)
- Noah Whinston, CEO of Immortals (Los Angeles)
- Ben Spoont, CEO and Co-Founder of Misfits Gaming (Miami-Orlando)
- Andy Miller, Chairman and Founder of NRG Esports (San Francisco)
- NetEase (Shanghai)
- Kevin Chou, Co-founder of Kabam (Seoul)
The names and companies are familiar to most as they include entrepreneurs and leaders from traditional sports and eSports. The three professional Overwatch teams that already exist in this list belong to NRG, Misfits and Immortals.
“Overwatch is a game about a diverse group of international heroes who fight for an optimistic vision of the future, and the Overwatch League is an extension of that spirit. We’re building this league for fans – eSports fans, traditional sports fans, gaming fans – and we’re thrilled to have individuals andorganisationss who are as passionate about professional competition as we are, and who have extensive experience in all three fields, representing our first major international cities in the league.”
– Mike Morhaime, CEO and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment.
Blizzard also released other important bits of information regarding the Overwatch League, which is slated to begin later this year, most likely after Blizzcon 2017 (which will see the second Overwatch World Cup come to a close). First, for the first season of the League, regular-season matches will be played at an eSports arena in the Los Angeles area, which will give time for teams to develop their local venues for formal home and away play in future seasons. Furthermore, we also now know that, at least for the first season, matches will be played each Thursday, Friday and Saturday. A full schedule and information about ticket sales will be announced closer to launch.
Perhaps, more importantly, is the information Blizzard released in regards to revenue streams. The Overwatch League will create value for team owners through advertising, ticketing and broadcast rights revenues, with teams receiving an equal share of all league-wide net revenues. Furthermore, teams will also keep all local revenues generated through their home territory and venue up to a set amount each year, which is unprecedented in eSports. However, once they go above the set amount, a percentage is sent to the league’s shared revenue pool.
In addition, teams will have a license to operate and monetize up to five amateur events in their home territory each year, and to benefit from the sale of League-affiliated fan items in Overwatch, with 50% of the revenues going into the net shared revenue pool for all teams. The sale of League-affiliated items in Overwatch is similar to the Dota 2 Battle Pass, which also sees a cut of its profits going towards The International.
Due to the lack of information until yesterday regarding the upcoming league, professional gamers were on the fence when it came to commitments. Some, like Brandon “Seagull” Larned, Overwatch’s arguably most famous professional player, converted to streaming on Twitch full time as opposed to competing in a team. Others continued scrimming and competing in various tournaments under their respective teams and orgs only to see Blizzard slowly shut down third-party competitive tournaments in anticipation of the Overwatch League. The competitive drought invariably led to many organisations dropping their Overwatch teams.
However, it must be noted that Blizzard hasn’t remained completely mute. The gaming giant unveiled and held the Overwatch Contenders Season Zero, with Season 1 set to begin in August. Season Zero had a prize pool of $50,000 with Season 1 boasting a prize pool of $100,000, which while big, still has a long way to go to unseat the kings of eSports prize pools, Dota 2’s The International. Blizzard also announced the Overwatch Open Division, which is open to all amateur players (ranked Masters and above) and which will offer top teams a path to Overwatch Contenders (which in the hierarchy of Overwatch competitions is just below the Overwatch League).
The Overwatch League will be the defining moment for Overwatch eSports as its failure could set the eSports side of the game back for a long time if not indefinitely while its success will promote more interest and give potential investors reassurance when it comes to buying slots and home cities in the league.
Source: Blizzard Press
