Its stated aim, as WIRED put it in a 2017 feature, was to become the new US National Football League. The big, expensive bet on the Overwatch League, though, has finally been called off.Since its formation in 2017, the Overwatch League-the professional esports program for Activision Blizzard’s Overwatch hero shooter-has drawn frequent comparisons to traditional sporting institutions. In-person events kicked up again in 2022, but interest in the league - and Overwatch 2 - continued to dwindle into 2023.Īctivision Blizzard is adamant that competitive Overwatch 2 isn’t done for, whatever this new format may be. Things got much, much worse for the Overwatch League when big sponsors dropped support for Activision Blizzard following the California Civil Rights department’s sexual harassment and gender discrimination lawsuit, which is still ongoing. (The lot remains empty, but owner Comcast Spectacor said it intends to build a multi-use arena, still.) The home-and-away setup fizzled out as the Overwatch League transitioned into strict online play during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some teams even planned multi-million dollar arenas, like Philadelphia Fusion’s $50 million Fusion Arena. Though traditional sports owners bought into the Overwatch League, including New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke, that vision never really came to fruition.įor the first few seasons, the Overwatch League operated primarily out of the Blizzard Arena in Los Angeles, save for a few “homestead” weekends where teams tested the home-and-away game format. It imagined an esports program that operated like the National Football League or National Hockey League, where teams - tied to cities - had a permanent spot and traveled to the home areas of other teams across the world for games. When the Overwatch League was announced in 2016, it was billed as a way to legitimize esports. ESL FACEIT was sold to Savvy Gaming Group, backed up the Saudi Arabian government, in 2022 for $1.5 billion. Those outstanding fees have reportedly been waived.Īctivision Blizzard is reportedly looking to run its next Overwatch 2 esports program with ESL FACEIT, Jacob Wolf reported in November. Eight expansion slots were later sold for prices up to $35 million, The Jacob Wolf Report said, adding that Activision Blizzard was owed $400 million in franchise payments from the Overwatch League and its similar Call of Duty esports league. Founding Overwatch League teams paid Activision Blizzard $20 million each, according to an ESPN report from 2017. Now that the votes are in, Activision Blizzard will pay out $120 million to the 20 contracted teams. Overwatch League owners were to vote to continue if they voted no, Activision Blizzard would pay out $6 million in termination fees. Activision Blizzard fired dozens of people in its esports department and announced that the future of the league was up to team ownership. When two Overwatch League teams - Houston Outlaws and Florida Mayhem - stepped onto the finals stage in Toronto in October, the future of Overwatch 2 esports was unclear. We are excited to share details with you all in the near future.” “We are grateful to everyone who made OWL possible and remain focused on building our vision of a revitalized esports program. “We are transitioning from the Overwatch League and evolving competitive Overwatch in a new direction,” an Activision Blizzard spokesperson told Polygon. Activision Blizzard is moving away from the esports league to take its competitive Overwatch 2 scene elsewhere, the company announced this week.
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