Overwatch
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Fans in uproar over poor quality Overwatch League jerseys
gabhernandez
Fanatics, the new Overwatch League merchandise store, is already getting negative attention for one of its core products. Reddit user PyroSSBM posted a picture of their new Atlanta Reign jersey, which is advertised on the website as bearing a steel gray color with black lettering. The post was titled “This is sad, I’m getting a refund”, and featured a picture of a steel gray jersey with barely visible lettering on …
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xQc makes a surprise return to pro Overwatch
gabhernandez
Fans thought he was done, but controversial Twitch streamer and former Overwatch League pro Félix “xQc” Lengyel is back to professional Overwatch. After a short-lived tenure with Dallas Fuel, xQc comes back to the Overwatch League at the Contenders level. The Canadian signed with the Los Angeles Gladiators Legion. Shortly before the Overwatch World cup, xQc was banned for toxic behavior and publicly distanced himself from professional play. “I don’t …
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OWL All-Access Pass features not available for replays
Olivia Richman
Twitch’s All-Access Pass is leaving some Overwatch League fans underwhelmed. When the $14.99 pass was first announced, one of the major selling points was the Command Center. The new feature boasted a variety of viewing options, including the ability to watch from any player’s POV at any time during a match. Many viewers were left wondering if the ambitious POV feature was available during viewing of recorded games. Reddit user …
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LA Valiant to raise $500,000 in charity for St. Jude
Olivia Richman
The Los Angeles Valiant are hoping to lift up more than trophies this season. By raising money towards St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the team is hoping to lift some spirits as well. “It is part of our DNA to give back to the communities that we serve and represent,” said Los Angeles Valiant executive chairman Noah Whinston. The Valiant are asking their fans to help them fight childhood cancer …
Coca-Cola becomes official drink of the Overwatch League
Olivia Richman
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Coca-Cola has become the official non-alcoholic beverage of the Overwatch League. The expansive Coca-Cola deal is the first OWL sponsorship to utilize the game developer’s total control over Overwatch’s intellectual property. The three-year pact with Activision-Blizzard Esports Leagues gives Coca-Cola exclusive branding opportunities with all of the OWL teams, along with the Overwatch Contenders league, the open division, and the Overwatch World Cup. The company’s drinks will also be served …
Shanghai Dragons start Season 2 without Fearless
Olivia Richman
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Despite what looked to be a promising offseason, the Shanghai Dragons really can’t catch a break. China’s first Overwatch League team will be starting Season 2 without its main tank Lee “Fearless” Eui-Seok. The team made the official announcement on Twitter, explaining to fans that Fearless would be recovering from an unnamed illness at home in Korea. His condition was making it difficult fro him to keep up with the …
Controversy surrounds Overwatch Community Countdown games
Steven Rondina
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Overwatch League’s Community Countdown has inadvertently left a chunk of the community frustrated. The five-day event designed to generate hype for the start of the 2019 season kicked off on February 9 with a series of practice games between OWL teams. While many were expecting those exhibition matches to be an early taste of OWL action, they were instead treated to something decidedly unserious, with players picking off-role characters and, …
Hundreds of layoffs reportedly coming to Activision-Blizzard
Steven Rondina
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Hard times are reportedly inbound for Activision-Blizzard. According to Bloomberg’s Christopher Palmeri, the publisher behind Call of Duty, Overwatch, and Diablo is set for mass layoffs this Tuesday. While no exact number is given, the report states that pink slips “could number in the hundreds.” How this will impact the company, and where these layoffs will primarily hit, is unknown. The news comes after a tumultuous stretch for the company, …
NYXL announces partnership with T-Mobile
Olivia Richman
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The New York Excelsior’s newly announced partnership with T-Mobile is one of many ways the team hopes to engage its New York fan base. T-Mobile will be sponsoring local fan events, custom content, and new merch for Season 2. This includes NYXL Homebound, a watch party on February 14 at the 40/40 Club in Manhattan. Attending fans will be able to watch the team’s first match of the year. “We …
Big changes coming to Overwatch Contenders
Steven Rondina
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Overwatch Contenders will look quite a bit different this year. With Overwatch League Season 2 approaching, Overwatch Contenders has announced several changes to its format and playoff structure. These tweaks are designed to allow the two sides to more effectively run parallel while also offering OWL teams with farm systems a better opportunity to promote or demote talent as needed. Foremost among the changes are shifts to the league schedule. …
Denial Esports co-owner in hot water for homophobic comments
William Davis
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The Twitter account of new Denial Esports co-owner Zach Smith has been suspended following release of a video in which he defends the use of homophobic slurs. “All the nerds are mad that I said [expletive],” said Smith in the video. “I didn’t say [expletive] in a connotation negative for gays. I said it because he was being a [expletive]. It’s the same as being a bitch.” Smith continued by …
Disney to air Overwatch League on ABC, cable stations
Olivia Richman
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As the Overwatch League expands, so too do the ways in which fans can watch the games. Blizzard has confirmed that Season 2 will feature matches broadcast on ABC, ESPN2, and Disney XD. Disney XD will be hosting the majority of the league’s cable television appearances. According to Blizzard’s season schedule, the network will air three matches each weekend starting February 14. The final Thursday match will be shown on …
Florida Mayhem president answers questions from angry fans
Olivia Richman
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Florida Mayhem president John Kracum bravely took to Reddit to respond to fans angry with his team’s disastrous debut. In Season 1, Mayhem finished second to last in the standings, ahead of only the winless Shanghai Dragons. Player mistreatment and rumors of mismanagement had fans reeling even more than the team’s dire in-game performance. This all came to a head when it leaked that player Kevyn “TviQ” Lindstrom drove the …
Overwatch player uses a piano to play Overwatch’s piano
gabhernandez
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What’s better than playing a piano in Overwatch? Using a piano to play a piano in Overwatch, of course. If you introduce a playable piano into your game, chances are people are going to find ways to make interesting content around it. An Overwatch player known as Zbnone fashioned a real electric piano into a controller and used it to play the Paris map’s in-game piano, with each key on …
Overwatch League releases list of rule breakers
Olivia Richman
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When it comes to new Overwatch League players, Blizzard is making a list and checking it twice. As new players and teams were announced for the 2019 season, the Overwatch League office conducted a full review of each player’s conduct and took appropriate disciplinary action. While each pro’s case is different, the league office does follow an official set of rules for competition and conduct. Some rule highlights include not …
New broadcasters added to OWL crew for 2019 season
gabhernandez
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Blizzard has announced that two new broadcasters will be joining the Overwatch League crew, along with three new “League Insiders”. Wolf “Wolf” Schröder and Seth “Achilios” King are the new casters added to the roster for the Overwatch League Season 2. Both casters are renowned for their work domestically in Korea. Schröder has spent his entire adult life in Korea where he has casted tournaments across various pro games. King …
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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