Overwatch
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Activision Blizzard wants data on company employee pregnancies
Olivia Richman
Activision Blizzard is asking its employees to share information on their pregnancies and menstrual cycles. Period and pregnancy tracking app Ovia is a popular app among expecting mothers. But recently, employers like Activision Blizzard have started paying the apps’ developer, Ovia Health, to gain access to their employees’ data. According to the Washington Post, companies say this data will help “minimize health-care spending, discover medical problems, and better plan for …
News
OW Contenders team replaces players hours before game, still wins
William Davis
Where there’s a will there’s a way, or so the saying goes. Rarely has it been more true than for Overwatch North America Contenders team Second Wind, who recently overcame some significant odds to beat Chicken Contendies 3-2. On April 7, half of Second Wind’s roster left to pursue opportunities elsewhere. The team’s tank lineup, comprised of main tank Normund “sharyk” Faterins and off-tank Daniel “Gods” Graeser, left for Montreal …
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OWL star DPS player EFFECT retires with emotional statement
William Davis
Overwatch League Season 1 star DPS player Hyeon “EFFECT” Hwang of the Dallas Fuel has retired from the league, according to a post on the player’s official Facebook page. The announcement is long and emotional, detailing EFFECT’s multiple struggles with mental health and suicidal ideation. “I returned to the league full of energy, but it’s so regretful that I’m leaving without showing anything,” EFFECT said. “However, I really don’t want …
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Houston Outlaws announce new partnership with grocery chain H-E-B
Olivia Richman
The Houston Outlaws have partnered with Texas-based grocery chain H-E-B. “Our local communities comprise key elements of the Houston Outlaws’ identity, and H-E-B continues to play a major role in supporting the Houstin, Austin, and San Antonio markets,” Infininite Esports and Entertainment president Ryan Musselman said. He went on to explain how H-E-B will provide “proper food and nourishment” to the players. The San Antonio, Texas grocery chain will also …
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Blizzard teases new Overwatch map in Havana with latest lore update
Fariha Bhatti
Blizzard has dropped a surprise piece of lore via the Overwatch website, detailing a location that could tease a new map. The blog piece is a fictional newspaper detailing the suspicious rise of a company located in Havana. The depicted story shares information about a family run business, a rum distillery that creates a well known Cuban drink called “Don Rumbotico”. According to the fictional article, the business was operated …
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Insane Widowmaker play from Carpe inspires official OWL hype rating
Olivia Richman
The Overwatch League has officially announced a “hype rating” system to identify the past two season’s most exciting team fights. Created by stats producer Ben Trautman, the system uses the team fight’s total final blows, its duration, amount of ultimates, and if it was in overtime, all as measurements to define the moment’s overall hype factor. The idea came to Trautman while he watched Philadelphia Fusion’s Jae-Hyeok “Carpe” Lee on …
News
Blizzard Arena censors another meme for racist connections
Olivia Richman
Some Overwatch League fans think that Blizzard has taken censorship a bit too far. The “OK” hand sign is now banned from the Blizzard Arena. On April 4, a fan in the audience held up the “OK” symbol during an interview with the Los Angeles Gladiator’s Gui-un “Decay” Jang following their victory over the Shanghai Dragons. Check out where the controvery started here. In response, one Twitter user called the …
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Florida Mayhem announces all-Korean roster going into Stage 2
Olivia Richman
Florida Mayhem is going into Stage 2 with an entirely Korean roster and staff. Before their first match took place, Florida Mayhem announced that they were parting ways with two members of its coaching staff and their remaining three Western players. This includes letting go of DPS player Kevyn “TviQ” Lindstrom, the last remaining player from the original Florida Mayhem roster. He’s also the player who infamously drove the team’s …
A flurry of coaching changes hit OWL prior to start of Stage 2
Fariha Bhatti
News
A number of teams in the Overwatch League are making changes to their coaching staffs just in time for the start of Stage 2. Paris Eternal, Washington Justice, Toronto Defiant, and Dallas Fuel have all lost coaches this week, with the announcements being made just before the next round of matches are set to begin. The head coach of the Paris Eternal, Julien “daemoN” Ducros, is among those coaches to …
Rookie im37 to Toronto, is now quickest path to pro player to join OWL
Fariha Bhatti
News
With just one day to go before the start of Stage 2, Toronto Defiant has announced a new addition to the team’s roster. DPS player Jin “im37” Hong joined the team having completed the path to pro program from the Open Division to the Overwatch League in under one month’s time. As a DPS player, Jin specialises in heroes such as McCree, Widowmaker, and Genji. He has also shown proficiency …
Boston Uprising and Atlanta Reign make moves beefing up for Stage 2
Fariha Bhatti
News
With the start of Stage 2 of the Overwatch League just around the corner, many teams are adding to and changing their rosters in hopes of improved success. The Boston Uprising and Atlanta Reign have both hired new team members from outside the Overwatch League ranks. Boston announced on April 2 that Zion “Persia” Yang had been signed to the team as an additional support player. Before joining the Uprising, …
Dallas Fuel trade rCK to Boston Uprising in exchange for NotE
William Davis
News
The Dallas Fuel and Boston Uprising have put a bold trade in motion. The Fuel are sending Richard “rCK” Kanerva to Boston, and the Uprising will send Lucas “NotE” Meissner to Dallas in return. With this move, Kellex will become the last remaining original member of the Uprising’s original lineup remaining on the roster. The Fuel will pick up a capable off-tank that has previous experience working with assistant coach …
Toronto Defiant’s Stellar announces sudden retirement from OWL
Olivia Richman
News
Overwatch League fans have still not recovered from Daniel “Dafran” Francesca’s sudden retirement, and there’s already another big name OWL player leaving the competitive scene before Stage 2 commences. Toronto Defiant’s Lee “Stellar” Do-hyung has just announced his retirement from professional Overwatch on Twitter. “Due to personal reasons, I have decied to retire from being a pro,” Stellar said. In the video shared by the Toronto Defiant, Stellar went on to …
Splyce uses special forces veterans to improve performance in League
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
OverActive Media senior vice president Marty Strenczwilk said that hiring two U.S. military special forces veterans to work with Splyce and the Toronto Defiant has already yeiled positive results. In January, OverActive Media hired Patrick Sauer and Thomas Hall to work with the organization’s young pro gamers on leadership, relationship management, and conflict resolution skills. On March 17, Splyce finished second in the Call of Duty World League Fort Worth …
Overwatch League teams fake out fans for April Fools’ Day
Fariha Bhatti
News
Multiple Overwatch League teams have taken part in a joke rebranding exercise celebrating April Fools’ Day. The Chengdu Hunters, Seoul Dynasty, and Hangzhou Spark all introduced new names and logos for their teams in the early hours of the morning. The Hangzhou Spark revealed its new name and branding on Twitter. Called “Hangzhou Seals” for the day, the team assured everyone that the organization’s beloved pink coloring would stay, but …
Vancouver Titans announce Rogers Arena as home stadium for 2020
Olivia Richman
News
Vancouver Titans have announced a home arena for the 2020 Overwatch League season. The Stage 1 champions named Rogers Arena in Vancouver as their home stadium in a Twitter announcement. The arena seats over 18,000 people and most commonly hosts music and sporting events. Rogers Arena is also the home of the NHL team Vancouver Cancuks. The Canucks are owned by the Aquilini Investment Group, who also own the Titans. …
Atlanta Reign star Dafran announces sudden OWL retirement
gabhernandez
News
Overwatch League team Atlanta Reign has announced through Twitter that Daniel “Dafran” Francesca will be retiring from professional play. This news comes as a shock to many fans, though Dafran’s start to his Overwatch League career was a shaky one. He had tweeted that he was going back to work at McDonalds and that his contract with the Reign had been voided. This later proved to be something of a …
Overwatch League All-Star event voting is now open for fans
Olivia Richman
News
Overwatch League fans can now vote their favorite players into the All-Star event. This year’s All-Star event will take place on May 15 at the Blizzard Arena between Stages 2 and 3. Similar to League of Legend’s All-Star event, OWL’s will feature custom games throughout the weekend while the 12 top players from the Atlantic and Pacific divisions will compete. On May 16 there will be a first-to-four main event …
Contenders China team makes big allegations against Blizzard, Defiant
Olivia Richman
News
A Chinese Contenders team is making headlines for some hefty accusations against Blizzard, the Overwatch League, and Toronto Defiant. In a Weibo post, Overwatch team Lucky Future first leveled allegations against Robin Shi, the head administrator for the Chinese Contenders series. The team stated that between March 6 and 11, Shi took no action against the head coach of LGD Gaming after some shady dealings had been brought to his …
Overwatch patch 1.35 shapes up with several Reaper buffs, bug fixes
Fariha Bhatti
News
The Overwatch development team has released an update to the Public Test Region servers introducing changes to Reaper, Symmetra, and Junkrat. This is the first iteration of patch 1.35, which also adds the ability for players to set their victory pose to random. Reaper’s ability Shadow Step has received numerous buffs with this patch, further increasing the damage hero’s mobility. Shadow Step is now available for use in mid-air, allowing …
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.
