* . *
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact
Tuesday, September 2, 2025
Earth-News
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Country music star apologizes after drunken show ends with cops taking him down: ‘I’m not OK’ – PennLive.com

    Country Music Star Apologizes After Drunken Show Ends in Police Intervention: ‘I’m Not OK

    Comanche Nation Entertainment closes casino near Devol – KSWO 7News

    Comanche Nation Entertainment Closes Casino Near Devol in Surprising Move

    Erykah Badu Announces ‘Abi & Alan’ Album With The Alchemist Will Be Delayed – yahoo.com

    Erykah Badu Opens Up About the Delay of Her Highly Anticipated ‘Abi & Alan’ Album with The Alchemist

    If You Needed Some BTS Pics Of The Rock’s Tree Trunk Legs To Spice Up Your Day, We Got ‘Em – yahoo.com

    Need a Boost? Check Out These Epic BTS Shots of The Rock’s Tree Trunk Legs!

    Sabrina Carpenter’s pearl-clutching magic? Humor – CNN

    Sabrina Carpenter’s pearl-clutching magic? Humor – CNN

    South Park Is In Trouble And Needs To Change Course, Fast – yahoo.com

    South Park Faces Major Challenges and Must Adapt Fast to Survive

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    This Secret Technology Will Make The IPhone 17 Super Thin Air – VOI.ID

    How This Breakthrough Technology Will Make the iPhone 17 Incredibly Thin and Lightweight

    Gator football kicks off with excitement and new technology – WCJB | TV20

    Gator Football Kicks Off with Thrilling Action and Innovative Technology

    Marvell Technology (MRVL) Loses 18.6% as Growth Outlook Fails to Impress – Yahoo Finance

    Marvell Technology (MRVL) Loses 18.6% as Growth Outlook Fails to Impress – Yahoo Finance

    Propelling solar technology into a perovskite future – CORDIS

    Propelling solar technology into a perovskite future – CORDIS

    13 Top Technology Trends (2025) – Exploding Topics

    13 Game-Changing Technology Trends to Watch in 2025

    Japan’s legacy LCD and chip technology find new home in India – Nikkei Asia

    How Japan’s Breakthrough LCD and Chip Technologies Are Driving Innovation in India

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Country music star apologizes after drunken show ends with cops taking him down: ‘I’m not OK’ – PennLive.com

    Country Music Star Apologizes After Drunken Show Ends in Police Intervention: ‘I’m Not OK

    Comanche Nation Entertainment closes casino near Devol – KSWO 7News

    Comanche Nation Entertainment Closes Casino Near Devol in Surprising Move

    Erykah Badu Announces ‘Abi & Alan’ Album With The Alchemist Will Be Delayed – yahoo.com

    Erykah Badu Opens Up About the Delay of Her Highly Anticipated ‘Abi & Alan’ Album with The Alchemist

    If You Needed Some BTS Pics Of The Rock’s Tree Trunk Legs To Spice Up Your Day, We Got ‘Em – yahoo.com

    Need a Boost? Check Out These Epic BTS Shots of The Rock’s Tree Trunk Legs!

    Sabrina Carpenter’s pearl-clutching magic? Humor – CNN

    Sabrina Carpenter’s pearl-clutching magic? Humor – CNN

    South Park Is In Trouble And Needs To Change Course, Fast – yahoo.com

    South Park Faces Major Challenges and Must Adapt Fast to Survive

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    This Secret Technology Will Make The IPhone 17 Super Thin Air – VOI.ID

    How This Breakthrough Technology Will Make the iPhone 17 Incredibly Thin and Lightweight

    Gator football kicks off with excitement and new technology – WCJB | TV20

    Gator Football Kicks Off with Thrilling Action and Innovative Technology

    Marvell Technology (MRVL) Loses 18.6% as Growth Outlook Fails to Impress – Yahoo Finance

    Marvell Technology (MRVL) Loses 18.6% as Growth Outlook Fails to Impress – Yahoo Finance

    Propelling solar technology into a perovskite future – CORDIS

    Propelling solar technology into a perovskite future – CORDIS

    13 Top Technology Trends (2025) – Exploding Topics

    13 Game-Changing Technology Trends to Watch in 2025

    Japan’s legacy LCD and chip technology find new home in India – Nikkei Asia

    How Japan’s Breakthrough LCD and Chip Technologies Are Driving Innovation in India

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
Earth-News
No Result
View All Result
Home Technology

How the world’s most ambitious esports league shrank to nothing: An oral history of the Overwatch League

January 24, 2024
in Technology
How the world’s most ambitious esports league shrank to nothing: An oral history of the Overwatch League
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

The Overwatch League is officially done with, but the story of the “Overwatch” community isn’t over yet. With a successor on the horizon in the form of ESL/FACEIT Group’s Overwatch Champions Series, some industry observers are looking back at the OWL to figure out exactly how things went wrong.

When Activision Blizzard initially announced the Overwatch League in 2016, esports fans and investors alike believed the league would help usher the esports industry into an era of unfettered growth. Billionaires such as New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft bit the bullet on the league’s $20 million franchise fees, making the OWL the most valuable esports league in the world — at least before teams accepted a $6 million buyout to exit the league in late 2023.

Eight years later, the esports industry hasn’t evolved far beyond where it was back in those early days of excitement and hype. Having thus far failed to crack the nut of broadcast rights, esports leagues and teams remain reliant on brand sponsorship revenues to stay afloat, but brands aren’t spending as much on esports as they used to, facing diminishing returns on investment and broader economic headwinds. When the Overwatch League folded in November, it came as a surprise to few.

But the death of the Overwatch League did not mean the end of “Overwatch.” Hundreds of thousands of players still log in to play the game every day — and as of today, ESL/FACEIT Group has partnered with Activision Blizzard to run the league’s official successor.

Here’s the story of the rise and fall — and potential future — of the Overwatch League.

During the early days, the Overwatch League was suffused with a sense of long-awaited destiny. Veteran esports fans were excited by the prospect of seeing more money flowing into their favorite passion, while esports executives saw a potential payday in the offing. The entire community was united in its support for what was then the largest first-person shooter league in esports history.

Amid all the hubbub, however, there were some indicators that the Overwatch League’s financial needs were not fully in concert with the desires of the community. When Activision Blizzard launched the OWL, the community hoped that it would roll pre-existing community-led “Overwatch” tournaments, such as the popular Korean event series Overwatch Apex, into the nascent league. Instead, the company decided to work with its own broadcast partners, effectively killing the community events that had previously been the lifeblood of the community. 

Scott Smith, veteran esports host and analyst and co-founder of Do Not Peek Entertainment: It was exciting when it first came out and it was very community driven. Guys like [Rod] “Slasher” [Breslau] and Ben “FishStix” Goldhaber were throwing cups and getting people to cast it and figure out how to observe it. We all had that warm and fuzzy feeling we always get when a new esport drops.

Connor Knudsen, esports director at Oklahoma City University and a former journalist covering the early days of the OWL: For the first Dallas homestand, being able to go and see an esports event in person — I think everyone kind of has this experience when they go to an esports event for the first time and they’re like, “holy shit, this is legit.” Being able to go to grand finals in Philly and some of the other homestand events were just really powerful for me in 2018 and 2019 — so those, to me, were the golden years of the league, before COVID.

Richard Ng, founder of NYXL Overwatch fan club 5 Deadly Venoms: It was nuts. Within 30 days, we started to blow up. The Overwatch League came on site and made a video about our events. It was all like, “you’re paid fans, fake fans,” and I was like, “I wish we got paid for this.”

Erik “DoA” Lonnquist, esports caster and former host of official Overwatch League broadcast show “Watchpoint:” We were in California for most of 2017, helping kind of plan things. I would work with the spectator team in the Blizzard offices and help work on the spectator interface — give them input and all that. We’d be looking at prototype logo designs for the teams, just basically there to give our input as esports professionals as they built this thing.

Jason Baker, longtime esports event producer and former head of the OWL observation team: In Korea, the Apex league defined what an “Overwatch” broadcast was. They did a really, really good job of creating an audience for “Overwatch,” and then Blizzard comes in and says “you can’t do it anymore, and part of it is you’re doing it better than us, we want people to watch us.” And that’s just terrible. I think trying to shut down all the competition and control their game is the thing that kills esports, from here to eternity.

The Overwatch League’s first season commenced in 2018, and for the first two years, viewership of the league continued to grow. But even before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the league to pivot from its homestand model in 2020, there were early signs that the league was not living up to its promises as a business, despite the flashy broadcasts and big-name brand deals. In early 2019, fans decried the game’s so-called “GOATS metagame” for turning high-level play into a slow grind; in May of that year, league commissioner Nate Nanzer announced his departure to take a role at Epic Games; and in January 2020, Twitch declined to renew its $90 million broadcast deal with the league.

Yohan Yun, Overwatch League fan and 5 Deadly Venoms member: The GOATS meta went on for way too long, and there were a lot of issues that didn’t get addressed quite as fast as they should have. [Activision Blizzard] have come out and said themselves, they weren’t the best at communicating and addressing issues players have, which they’re doing a lot better in “Overwatch 2.”

Smith: There is a world-famous deck floating around about how great the Overwatch League can be — it’s a report that takes the monetization of football jerseys in the NFL and stands up right next to it what “Overwatch” will do. All these comparisons are so wrong — and a lot of us always said this is a bad idea. I will go to my grave saying this was a bad idea. 

Lonnquist: With Nate Nanzer leaving fairly early on in 2019, that was a situation where I think the creative head was sort of cut off the league, and there was no one really there to fill it. And the people that were put there to attempt to fill it were resistant to listening to the esports personalities on the show, that had good ideas and knew what to do. So that was kind of what pushed me out of the league — I felt like it was very collaborative in the beginning, but then it turned to a situation where not a lot of what we had talked about doing ended up happening.

Liz Richardson, longtime “Overwatch” journalist for Dot Esports and other outlets: As the league revealed its ambitious plans for the 2020 season, I could start to see things shift. Organizations would be on the hook to plan and execute huge events with the planned homestand model while players and coaches would be clocking thousands of miles of travel, sometimes internationally. Behind the scenes, players were worried about burnout and organizations were concerned with footing the bill.

Whether or not the Overwatch League had already begun to dig its grave by the time the COVID-19 pandemic rolled around in early 2020, there’s no denying that the pandemic was the true beginning of the end. Pandemic lockdown forced the league to move away from a live event model intended to take advantage of its location-based teams, as well as making it difficult for international teams to travel to compete against one another.

The nail in the OWL’s coffin came in 2021, when Activision Blizzard found itself embroiled in scandal following reports about the company’s toxic and sexist work culture. As the controversy reached a fever pitch, prominent sponsors such as State Farm and T-Mobile quietly ended their sponsorships of the league, and the OWL’s partnerships business never fully recovered from the blow.

Smith: The sponsors all signed up for one or two seasons and went, “we’re out, we did not get our ROI, we’re not going to sign back up.” And they lost all their sponsorships, or quite a bit of it. You can blame venture capital for not doing their due diligence — they lent their money into an industry that had no ROI anywhere near that kind of money.

Richardson: In my mind, the 2022 and 2023 seasons were fueled solely by the passion of the people left. Those seasons may have been rough around the edges, but everyone at OWL stepped up to make something out of basically nothing. People who were part of the original grassroots “Overwatch” scene before OWL really, really tried to do what they could to give fans something to enjoy. If there’s anything I wish fans knew, it’d be that nobody “gave up” or phoned it in; the money and support ran out and they still had a show to put on.

Knudsen: All of the things going on at Activision — that was certainly not a good look to be associated with that, from the Overwatch League’s perspective. And so, when they started losing endorsement deals based on that, and when they made the shift to YouTube, some cracks started to appear. It just continued to get worse and worse, and obviously COVID didn’t help. It was around that 2020-2021 time frame when it just seemed like things changed for the worse.

The Overwatch League is over, but the game itself still boasts millions of fans, many of whom would gladly tune into a high-level competition if given the opportunity. And where eyeballs go, so do the dollars — so it’s no surprise that another entity has already stepped in to take the reins of the “Overwatch” community. As of today, the Saudi-Arabian-owned company ESL/FACEIT Group has partnered with Activision Blizzard to announce the Overwatch Champions Series, a competitive “Overwatch” league that an EFG representative described as “the successor to the Overwatch League.”

The news will likely come as a relief to some of the “Overwatch” fans left feeling unmoored by the end of the Overwatch League — but it comes with potential friction, too. As the Saudi Arabian government invests more money into the esports industry via both EFG and the Esports World Cup, its involvement has sparked pushback from members of the gaming community concerned about the country’s human rights abuses. Given these sticking points, time will tell whether the Overwatch Champions Series will manage to attain — or supercede — the heights reached by its predecessor.

Richardson: I’m absolutely still an Overwatch fan and a huge fan of Overwatch esports in whatever form it takes in the future. The game itself is hit or miss for me these days, but the developers are making compelling changes to things that players dislike the most and that has to count for something. 

Andy Miller, CEO of the esports organization NRG, which owns and operates the OWL’s San Francisco Shock: I’m trying to figure out what to do with our socials, which are phenomenal. There’s no teams, or leagues, or games, or tournaments or anything. So I don’t know — I imagine that it’s going to end up at the World Cup or whatever we’re calling this thing.

Lonnquist: If Activision Blizzard gives the license to EFG, they’ll run something, they’ll do it right now. Are teams going to run out and spend a whole lot of money to roster up, like they do for “Counter-Strike?” Nope, I don’t think the viewership will be there. I think it’s going to be a niche esports, in that sense.

Baker: If you were to ask me two years ago, I could have given you a rosier outlook, but everything from the financial world is completely different — the numbers aren’t there. Why put a million dollars into the Overwatch League when you could put $500,000 into [Twitch streamer] Tarik and get twice as many viewers? xQc has probably made more money than the Overwatch League — like, the guy who got kicked out of the Overwatch League.

Craig Levine, co-CEO of ESL/FACEIT Group, in the company’s press release announcing the Overwatch Champions Series: OWCS introduces a new era of “Overwatch” esports while honoring the traditions and passion built by “Overwatch” esports. Together with Blizzard Entertainment, EFG is well-positioned to create a truly global experience on the FACEIT platform and at DreamHack festivals.

>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : DigiDay – https://digiday.com/media/how-the-worlds-most-ambitious-esports-league-shrank-to-nothing-an-oral-history-of-the-overwatch-league/?utm_campaign=digidaydis&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=general-rss

Tags: AmbitioustechnologyWorld's
Previous Post

How social-centric Gallery Media is taking on events, TikTok Shop and ever-changing algorithms

Next Post

Australian Organisations Struggling to Resolve Tensions Between Personalisation, Privacy

ECB’s Lagarde warns of risk to world economy via Trump interference on Fed – Reuters

ECB’s Lagarde warns of risk to world economy via Trump interference on Fed – Reuters

September 1, 2025
The Resilient Engine: Investing in Poland’s Outperforming Economy Amid Global Slowdown – AInvest

The Resilient Engine: Why Investing in Poland’s Booming Economy Is a Smart Move Amid Global Slowdown

September 1, 2025
Country music star apologizes after drunken show ends with cops taking him down: ‘I’m not OK’ – PennLive.com

Country Music Star Apologizes After Drunken Show Ends in Police Intervention: ‘I’m Not OK

September 1, 2025
Arts to promote mental health goal of new University of Michigan clinical program – MLive.com

Innovative University of Michigan Program Harnesses the Arts to Enhance Mental Health

September 1, 2025
Meet the man defending Trump’s political adversaries – ABC News

Meet the man defending Trump’s political adversaries – ABC News

September 1, 2025
Sky High Farm’s Biennial Blends Art, Agriculture and Ecological Urgency – observer.com

Sky High Farm’s Biennial Blends Art, Agriculture and Ecological Urgency – observer.com

September 1, 2025

After 150 Job Applications and Rescinded Offers, Computer Science Grads Face an Unforgiving Job Market

September 1, 2025
Proportion of US students taking chemistry fails to keep pace with other science disciplines – Chemistry World

Why Fewer US Students Are Choosing Chemistry Compared to Other Sciences

September 1, 2025
Going zero-waste for a month opened my eyes — here are 7 lessons I wish I knew sooner – VegOut

7 Eye-Opening Lessons I Learned from Living Zero-Waste for a Month

September 1, 2025
This Secret Technology Will Make The IPhone 17 Super Thin Air – VOI.ID

How This Breakthrough Technology Will Make the iPhone 17 Incredibly Thin and Lightweight

September 1, 2025

Categories

Archives

September 2025
MTWTFSS
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
2930 
« Aug    
Earth-News.info

The Earth News is an independent English-language daily published Website from all around the World News

Browse by Category

  • Business (20,132)
  • Ecology (801)
  • Economy (820)
  • Entertainment (21,700)
  • General (16,798)
  • Health (9,861)
  • Lifestyle (834)
  • News (22,149)
  • People (821)
  • Politics (828)
  • Science (16,030)
  • Sports (21,318)
  • Technology (15,800)
  • World (801)

Recent News

ECB’s Lagarde warns of risk to world economy via Trump interference on Fed – Reuters

ECB’s Lagarde warns of risk to world economy via Trump interference on Fed – Reuters

September 1, 2025
The Resilient Engine: Investing in Poland’s Outperforming Economy Amid Global Slowdown – AInvest

The Resilient Engine: Why Investing in Poland’s Booming Economy Is a Smart Move Amid Global Slowdown

September 1, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

Go to mobile version