Overwatch
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DoA leaving OWL casting desk, ZP joining JAKE as caster for 2020
Olivia Richman
Things may be quiet on the roster front leading up to the Overwatch League 2020 season, but the broadcast itself is continuing to go through major changes. The dust was just settling from Chris Puckett and Christopher “MonteCristo” Mykles’ announcements at the start of the new year, but now things are shaking up again. Caster Erik “DoA” Lonnquist is joining Puckett and MonteCristo in leaving the Overwatch League. “We will truly miss …
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zappis retires from Overwatch League to pursue streaming, school
Olivia Richman
After four years in the professional Overwatch scene, Florida Mayhem flex tank Joonas “zappis” Alakurtti is retiring from competitive play. In a TwitLonger post, zappis opened up about his decision. He cited a lack of motivation as his main reason for leaving the competitive Overwatch scene, stating that he feels he can not give the game 100% anymore. “Some of you may know that I finished my Bachelor’s degree in law …
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Overwatch Season 20 map pool changes Control, Hybrid, Escort
Olivia Richman
Blizzard has revealed the map pool for Overwatch’s 20th competitive season. All three of the Assault maps from Season 19 have returned in Season 20, including Temple of Anubis, Hanamura, and Volskaya Industries. While Assault has remained the same, Escort saw a pretty big change, with Watchpoint Gibraltar and Route 66 no longer in the pool. Instead, Dorado and Rialto will join Havana in the new rotation. Hybrid also saw …
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Chris Puckett follows MonteCristo out of the Overwatch League
gabhernandez
One more Overwatch League talent has announced his departure from the esport and one other is seemingly still up in the air, all just two months ahead of the start of the league’s third season. Chris Puckett has been working on the OWL desk since the inaugural season in 2018, but has put out a life update on Twitter to announce that he’s moved back to New York because his …
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Our tier list for the best Overwatch Arcade game modes
Olivia Richman
When Overwatch players don’t feel like dealing with role locks or the pressure of climbing up the competitive ranks, they turn to Arcade. This is a play mode in Overwatch that rewards you with loot boxes for each three Arcade games you win, allowing players to get up to three extra loot boxes each week. Arcade features a rotating list of various game modes, but not all are made equal. …
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Overwatch team disqualified from Breakable Barriers for cheating
Olivia Richman
An Overwatch team was disqualified from the Overwatch League’s Path to Pro Breakable Barriers tournament over the weekend after one of their players was caught cheating. The Open Division competition’s second weekend was held on December 21 and 22. The teams competing for the cash prize were mostly comprised of Overwtch contenders players and other well-known pros looking to have some fun. But one player from Minions on the Flank …
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Blizzard bans 1,600 hackers caught by Overwatch Police Department
Olivia Richman
Aimbot hacks are not welcome in Overwatch. An anti-hack Twitter page called Overwatch Police Department revealed that Blizzard had cracked down on players using hacks provided by Xion. The frowned upon tool offered aimbots for hitscan and projectile heroes, the ability to see enemies’ outlines, and ways to be unaffected by Sombra’s EMP. To take advantage of these services, cheaters would pay $155 per month. According to the Overwatch Police …
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13-year-old goes pro in Overwatch, signs with Uprising Academy
William Davis
13-year-old Michael “RhynO” Willoughby is now the youngest Overwatch esports professional ever after being signed to the Uprising Academy Contenders team. The organization revealed the news on Twitter and added that RhynO would be joining their 2020 team in a Tank role. RhynO is now the youngest player to compete competitively in Overwatch esports. The title of the youngest professional Overwatch competitor was previously held by Fusion University DPS player …
Overwatch fans upset with Winter Wonderland legendary event skins
Olivia Richman
News
Overwatch’s Winter Wonderland event has finally arrived and fans aren’t too excited with what they’re seeing. While Sigma’s new legendary skin was met with applause, gamers are underwhelmed with the other cosmetics Blizzard has included this season. For many players, it seems as though the same heroes keep getting winter-themed skin, leaving others out in the cold for four Christmases in a row. This includes D.Va, who has yet to …
Winter Wonderland 2019 brings new game mode, shelves Skirmish
William Davis
News
The holiday season has arrived once again and Overwatch is bringing the festivities with the biggest installment of the Winter Wonderland event yet. Winter Wonderland 2019 features three unique game modes, seven new winter-themed skins, and an all new intermediary mode that will be sticking around after the holidays come to a close. Mei’s Snowball Offensive and Yeti Hunter are making a return during this limited event. A brand new …
Jake, Pine retire from Overwatch League competition
gabhernandez
News
Two Overwatch League veterans are saying goodbye to the professional scene. Kim “Pine” Do-hyeon and Jake “Jake” Lyon have announced their retirements from the OWL. Pine was a formidable DPS player for the New York Excelsior, best known for his clutch Widowmaker plays. He was a fan favorite during the inaugural OWL season and was considered the best DPS player in the league by fans. He was constantly making seemingly …
Overwatch Winter Wonderland brings legendary skins, winter game mode
Olivia Richman
News
After a brief delay, Overwatch’s Winter Wonderland update should be arriving tonight. For a while, fans wondered if there would even be a Winter Wonderland update anymore, but Blizzard vice president Jeff Kaplan dispelled those rumors on the game’s forum. “We’ve been seeing quite a bit of misinformation being spread about our December patch. The patch is scheduled to go live next week. Short of some unforeseen circumstance causing a …
xQc airs frustrations with Blizzard and Tier 2 Overwatch scene
Olivia Richman
News
Former Overwatch League pro Felix “xQc” Lengyel has not been happy with the game’s competitive scene lately. While the infamous player is currently a full-time streamer, he was also part of the Los Angeles Gladiator’s academy team, Gladiators Legion, for the 2019 Contenders season. He was looking forward to competing next year as well, until he realized that the team had withdrawn from Overwatch Contenders without telling him. The Canadian streamer …
T1 to join Overwatch Contenders Korea in 2020, replace Fusion U
Nina Forneloza
News
T1 will be joining the Overwatch Contenders Korea in 2020 Formerly known as SK Telecom T1, the recently rebranded T1 announced on Twitter that they have begun to recruit players and coaches to form a team to play in the Overwatch Contenders Korea league in 2020. The legendary esports organization is looking for any interested Grandmasters players with a minimum of 4300 SR to apply for both online and offline …
Fissure was fined for leaking confidential OWL information
Olivia Richman
News
It has been revealed that Vancouver Titans tank Baek “Fissure” Chan-hyung had to pay Blizzard a $3,000 fine for leaking the 2-2-2 role lock rule change in Season 2. Before Stage 4, Fissure retired from the Overwatch League, leaving Seoul Dynasty for undisclosed reasons. He decided to share some juicy OWL details on his June 26 stream since he was retired anyway. “Next stage, four, 2-2-2 role lock confirmed,” Fissure …
Philadelphia Fusion sign Doomfist player ChipSa, OWL pros react
Olivia Richman
News
The Overwatch League has been busy with signings, roster changes, and trades leading up to the highly anticipated 2020 season. But one recent roster move has Overwatch fans and players confused. The Philadelphia Fusion recently announced they were signing popular streamer and Doomfist one-trick Philip “ChipSa” Graham. “What it’s like when an Overwatch League team plays around a Doomfist? We’re about to find out,” the team tweeted out. The announcement was …
Overwatch fan wants Overwatch 2 denier to “keep promise” after bet
Olivia Richman
News
Overwatch 2 has been a rumor for a while, but it was only officially announced at BlizzCon 2019 earlier this month. Still, that didn’t stop many fans from making predictions. One Reddit user, icekeuter, believed that Overwatch 2 would even be announced as early as last year’s BlizzCon. Now, he’s looking for the Reddit user that was so confident Overwatch 2 would never happen that he not only shut down …
Overwatch player uses Workshop mode to reveal hero hitboxes
Olivia Richman
News
While the Overwatch Workshop has largely been used to create fun mini-games like UNO, some players are using it to help others improve at the game itself. One Overwatch fan recently used Workshop mode to reveal each hero’s hitboxes, information that will improve players’ accuracy. Reddit user spadler097 shared his discoveries on Overwatch’s subreddit, complete with animations for each hero. “I wrote a Workshop code to scan a cross-section of a …
8-year-old Overwatch player gets Platinum competitive placement
Olivia Richman
News
A proud father has shared his eight-year-old daughter’s impressive Overwatch placement on Reddit. User Speakeasyow uploaded his daughter’s Season 19 placement in Overwatch, and the community was blown away. After winning five straight games, his daughter got a rank of 2882 SR, putting her in Platinum. This is also only a little over 100 SR away from Diamond, which means she’s in the top 25% of all players. The father …
Jeff Kaplan talks Overwatch & Smash Bros crossover characters
Olivia Richman
News
When Overwatch was announced for the Nintendo Switch, fans’ minds had immediately gone to character crossover possibilities. In an interview with Game Informer, Overwatch’s lead designer Jeff Kaplan answered a lot of questions revolving around those possibilities. Gmae Informer’s Andrew Reiner decided to ask Kaplan which Super Smash Bros. Ultimate character Kaplan would want to see in Overwatch 2. “Nothing would make me happier than putting Link into our game,” …
Overwatch has become a mainstay in competitive gaming, though the Blizzard creation hasn’t always had a smooth road to travel. From massive peaks of success to major controversies and dips in popularity, the Overwatch franchise has proved resilient, still playing host to legions of players and fans.
Along the way, the game served as host to one of the most ambitious projects in the growing history of esports, and saw the release of a sequel that changed in form and function multiple times before finally releasing to the public.
What is Overwatch?
Overwatch is a prototypical “hero shooter,” a game that combines first-person shooting gameplay with heroic abilities that are unique to each of the game’s diverse cast of characters. One character might swing a giant hammer and wield a protective shield behind which teammate can take cover, while another might zip around the game’s world with twin guns blazing, warping time and space at will.
That variety of characters and playing styles is a big reason for Overwatch’s success. When no two characters play exactly alike, the sheer variety available in the game becomes a draw. Throw in colorful visuals, dynamic and responsive gameplay, and action-packed battles between teams of opposing players all combining their different abilities together, and you can begin to understand the popularity of Overwatch.
When developers at Blizzard first released Overwatch, there was nothing else quite like it. The closest any major release had come was likely Team Fortress 2, which also featured teams of opposing characters wielding varied abilities in prolonged battles. But Overwatch leaned even further into the unique qualities of its characters, including their presentation. Across PCs and consoles alike, the game proved to be a sensation upon its 2016 release.
What happened to the Overwatch League?
Originally founded in 2017, the Overwatch League was meant to serve as a long-term competitive hub for the game’s professional teams and players prior to its official shutdown in 2024. The league was created with big ambitions in mind, as Blizzard, by then partnered with massive publisher Activision, planned to seed local teams in a variety of cities spread across the world. The idea was to emulate traditional professional sports by rooting pro teams in certain cities and regions in the hopes of cultivating local fan followings.
This was a big change compared what had become the standard in esports, with esports organizations representing themselves to their fans regardless of region. At most, broad regions such as North America or Europe were most often marketed to by individual teams. To hone that in on a specific city was a significant change.
Activision-Blizzard also took the step of making pro Overwatch a closed system; that is, high-level tournaments were broadly restricted outside of official OWL events. While this exclusivity offered theoretical opportunity for the OWL through scarcity, it was also a different approach relevant to the established norm in esports, which traditionally saw smaller grass-roots events feed into a game’s highest levels as tournaments gradually scaled up in prominence and prize offerings.
Demanding tens of millions of dollars from investors who sought to own an OWL team and signing big-money exclusive broadcast deals with streaming platforms, the OWL got itself off to a hot start. But concerns over flagging viewership and overall revenue struggles persisted as the league marched forward. Its intended model proved unsustainable, and the league was eventually shut down.
Do people still play Overwatch?
Despite the fate of OWL, Overwatch remains broadly popular in its current form: Overwatch 2. The game remains under active development at Activision-Blizzard, regularly receiving new in-game events and more unique heroes with special abilities that allow the game to be played in different ways.
The release of Overwatch 2 was itself not without some controversy, as Blizzard’s plans for its contents changed and shifted through the sequel’s development cycle, and the final version of OW2 released as more of a continuation of the original game than a distinctly different sequel. But that continuation still preserved the gameplay and overall experience so many players had come to love about OW. For them, getting more of the same ultimately was not an issue.
