Overwatch
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2019 Overwatch League All-Stars event details revealed by Blizzard
Fariha Bhatti
The 2019 Overwatch League All-Stars event details have now been revealed. The event will take place at the Blizzard Arena on May 15 and 16. The matches will take place over the course of two days and will consist of a small tournament between the Atlantic and Pacific teams, as well as a series of exhibition matches. May 15 will include a collection of custom game modes that pit all-star …
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Blizzard announces details for the 2019 Overwatch World Cup
gabhernandez
Blizzard has officially announced the third annual Overwatch World Cup, to be held in November. This year’s format has changed due to the longer Overwatch League season, which ends in September 2019. The Overwatch World Cup will now take place in the span of just a single week in Anaheim. The preliminary rounds will be viewable online only. The group stage will then begin shortly after BlizzCon’s opening ceremony. During …
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Blizzard introduces Workshop mode with mod tools to Overwatch
gabhernandez
Today Overwatch developer Blizzard announced a new Public Test Region update which introduces the game’s Workshop mode. This mode will be added to Overwatch’s game browser section, where players can tweak game mechanics to create new ways to play. Two members of the development team created the idea for a workshop which would include a way for players to use the tools the developers themselves have to further tweak the …
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Dogman finally gets the bowl cut he has always promised
Olivia Richman
Playing in the Overwatch League can come with a steep price: A player might have to rock a bowl cut. Especially if they make the grave mistake of tweeting about it two years ago. While Atlanta Reign’s Dusttin “Dogman” Bowerman was playing in an early iteration of the Overwatch Contenders competition, he promised his followers that he would “rock a bowl cut” if he made it into the Overwatch League. …
Sleepy transferred from San Francisco Shock to Washington Justice
Steven Rondina
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Nikola “sleepy” Andrews is no longer a member of the San Francisco Shock. The team announced on its Twitter account that it is parting ways with the support player, with Sleepy being transferred to the Washington Justice. “It’s always tough saying goodbye to a family member, but ultimately we know that Sleepy deserves a spot on the Overwatch League stage,” the team said on Twitter. “Thank you for everything you …
Atlanta Reign shock fans with first regular season defeat of NYXL
William Davis
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The Atlanta Reign may have given the previously winless Los Angeles Valiant their first win of Overwatch League Season 2, but they’ve also notched a much more prestigious accomplishment. Atlanta Reign became the first team to hand the New York Excelsior a regular season loss in Season 2. NYXL’s only prior loss in 2019 came to Seoul Dynasty in the Stage 1 playoff quarterfinal round. The massive victory for the …
Chengdu Hunter player speaks inappropriately to underaged streamer
Olivia Richman
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Chengdu Hunters player Zhang “YangXiaoLong” Zhihao was fined one month’s salary for making inappropriate comments to an underaged streamer. “Aspen” is a popular Overwatch streamer who is currently partnered with Cloud9. During a recent match that was streamed on 17-year-old Aspen’s channel, YangXiaoLong told Aspen that fellow Chengdu Hunters player Ding “Ameng” Menghan said Aspen was his second wife. Aspen groaned in response to the comment. She wrote “LUL” in the channel’s …
Overwatch Contenders announce three live events coming in May
Olivia Richman
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Overwatch Contenders has announced three brand-new live events coming in May. According to the official announcement, the eight Contenders regions will be divided into two divisions, each consisting of four regions, for the new Showdown live events. The Pacific Showdown will take place in Shanghai, China, while the Atlantic Showdown is heading to Krefeld, Germany. These events will be live during the Overwatch League’s mid-year break beginning May 24, not …
Jeff Kaplan confirms Havana as payload map, hints at new heroes
Olivia Richman
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Jeff Kaplan has confirmed that Havana will be Overwatch’s next map. In a live stream from Blizzard Entertainment headquarters hosted on Facbook, Overwatch’s lead director Jeff Kaplan stated that Havana will be on the Public Test Realm “very soon.” Before it goes to the PTR, developers are working on alterations to the map’s time of day and weather. “We were so excited to make Havana. It was one of the …
Statistics show growing shift in Overwatch League meta after patch
Fariha Bhatti
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Stage 2 of the Overwatch League has now completed its second week, but the introduction of a new balance patch to the game has already shown a strong change to which heroes are most often picked. The 1.31 Patch was intended by developers at Blizzard to help shift the game’s competitive meta and to reduce the strength of the popular three tank and three support composition known informally as GOATS. …
Overwatch patch 1.35 improves Reaper teleport, Junkrat grenades
Fariha Bhatti
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A new Overwatch patch has been released and is now available on all platforms. Patch 1.35 introduced the start of the latest seasonal event as well as a few hero changes. Symmetra and Junkrat have received a minor update, while Reaper has received multiple adjustments to his Shadow Step ability. Reaper’s teleporting ability now has a reduced cooldown time, having been shortened from seven seconds to just six. Another big …
OWL fans question fate of Blizzard Arena after Warner Bros purchase
Olivia Richman
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Warner Bros. will be the official owner of Burbank Studios, home to the Blizzard Arena, in 2023. The purchase of Burbank Studios is a multi-phased project with an estimated value of more than $1 billion. It’s one of Burbank’s largest and most complex real estate transactions in its history. The entertainment giant is acquiring the complex as part of its ambitious expansion plans. Burbank Studios will offer Warner Bros. more …
Overwatch reveals Storm Rising mission and legendary Ashe skin
Olivia Richman
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The final Overwatch Storm Rising event skin has been revealed. Socialite Ashe is a legendary skin that features an extravagant pink coat lined with fur and gold. Ashe also wears a giant hat with a pink feather. But the most exciting additionamay be B.O.B.’s fancy butler outfit, complete with dress shoes and gold chains. “You have to watch out for the one percent,” the official Overwatch page tweeted. This skin matches …
Misfits bring pro Fortnite and Overwatch players on college tour
Fariha Bhatti
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Esports organisation Misfits has announced a joint gaming event for fans to play with professional Fortnite and Overwatch Players. The free event will take place at the college-run esports convention Couch Co-op. Attendees of the convention will be able to meet with players signed by the Misfits organization as part of a “Play with the Pros” event. Fans will simply be able to walk up to the relevant booth and …
Dogman gives Atlanta Reign house tour sponsored by Cox Communication
Olivia Richman
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Atlanta Reign has found a new sponsor in media giant Cox Communications. Atlanta Reign is an Overwatch League team founded by Atlanta Esports Ventures, a joint venture between Cox Enterprises and Province, Inc., a financial advisory firm. Cox Communications is the largest privately-owned telecommunications company in the country, and Cox Enterprises’ largest division. “There is no doubht that Cox is a great fit for Atlanta Reign,” Atlanta Esports Ventures CEO Paul …
Racist and misogynist Overwatch game goes viral and Blizzard responds
gabhernandez
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Twitter user @Yes_ItsRose posted a disturbing video highlighting both sexism and racism in a recent Overwatch match. The two-minute video depicts Rose playing Mercy in her match. While trying to heal she is badgered with racist remarks about her skin color. Several members of her team even hone in on the color of her skin being the reason for her “mediocre” gameplay. When one teammate tries to stand up for …
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.
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