It's a Thing - Overwatch League to Begin in Earnest in Q3 - Overwatch - MMORPG.com

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It's a Thing - Overwatch League to Begin in Earnest in Q3 - Overwatch - MMORPG.com

Overwatch News - During a Korean interview earlier today, Overwatch eSports Director Nate Nanzer announced that the Overwatch League would begin ramping up in Q3 2017. The professional eSports organization was announced during Blizzcon 2016 and is a project that Blizzard is hoping will rival other, more traditional, sports leagues like the NFL or MLB.

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holdenhamlet

I am really excited about this. Anything that brings gaming more mainstream is great in my book.

I'd love to go see a game in Philly.  I'm sure the atmosphere would be super fun.

Tintagil

holdenhamlet said:

I am really excited about this. Anything that brings gaming more mainstream is great in my book.

I'd love to go see a game in Philly.  I'm sure the atmosphere would be super fun.

I'm right there with you. I really love competitive sports and video games, so the prospect of this league actually taking off really gets me hyped. I wish them luck rolling this out. 

josko9

League of Legends has been doing this for a very long time already, others like Dota and CS too. It's always nice to see others joining in, even if OW is nowhere near as popular as those 3.

However I have to wonder what is Blizzard thinking? I mean sure, they can keep their OW league, but in the end all of the eSport games will have to form inside one organization that is going to be responsible for that. Imagine something like FIFA, but for Esports? Blizzard is ambitious, but foolish.

One thing that Blizzard doesn't seem to grasp about Esports is the fact that they are still nobody there. Tencent is holding a monopoly on that with LoL, and I'd bet they'll either form an official eSports league alone, or perhaps partner with Valve/Amazon?

Either way, all others will eventually have to join in for a small % fee, including Blizzard (that is if they want to be taken serious). Of course that might be still years away, however if LoL's latest championship is any indication, then eSports is alrady more popular than the majority of the sports on TV.

What I'm still wondering though is how many eSports games will be there once an official organization is formed? I'd say only LoL for at least the first couple of years.

Wizardry

Well just like in Hearthstone it aims at the PRO players,so to everyone else it does absolutely NOTHING.

This has been my complaint in HS,Blizzard has not created one single platform for the community or ANYONE for that matter because tournaments have to use a friends list to actually setup a tournament because the game does not have any setting.

So they will recruit SPONSORED teams because that brings in the money,how about BLIZZARD create the platform so EVERY single player can compete for example monthly.

It is no different than running ladders,just create some actual platforms for in house tournaments and NOT aim at the gamer's that already make a living doing it.

So basically Blizzard says ,well screw you the little average gamer,but please come and support our game and the sponsored teams.

holdenhamlet

josko9 said:

League of Legends has been doing this for a very long time already, others like Dota and CS too. It's always nice to see others joining in, even if OW is nowhere near as popular as those 3.



However I have to wonder what is Blizzard thinking? I mean sure, they can keep their OW league, but in the end all of the eSport games will have to form inside one organization that is going to be responsible for that. Imagine something like FIFA, but for Esports? Blizzard is ambitious, but foolish.



One thing that Blizzard doesn't seem to grasp about Esports is the fact that they are still nobody there. Tencent is holding a monopoly on that with LoL, and I'd bet they'll either form an official eSports league alone, or perhaps partner with Valve/Amazon?



Either way, all others will eventually have to join in for a small % fee, including Blizzard (that is if they want to be taken serious). Of course that might be still years away, however if LoL's latest championship is any indication, then eSports is alrady more popular than the majority of the sports on TV.



What I'm still wondering though is how many eSports games will be there once an official organization is formed? I'd say only LoL for at least the first couple of years.

I'm not aware of any video game having a regional team. Think of it like football- You know how there's the Dallas Cowboys? After this, there will be something like the "Dallas Omnics", an Overwatch team.

I have absolutely no idea why you think Blizzard will have to pay a "small fee" to Tencent or whoever to do this.

Also, I'm not sure why you think other e-sports will be involved in this. It's literally called "The Overwatch League".

DavodtheTutt

Wizardry raises a valid concern -- what effect will this have on casual players, or even people who would like to get into the league but have a long way to go? Blizzard could organize a hierarchy of servers, one for noobs and casual players, a pee-wee league, little league, semi-pro, and a special one for the pros. I know, they've got their ranking system, "non-competitive" matches, and balancing system, but from what I saw those are not enough. They need to completely separate players with different levels of experience, intensity, and intent. This will also help to feed players who are good enough and have the desire into the pro league.