Overwatch
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Toronto Defiant GM speaks on mental health issues
Olivia Richman
Toronto Defiant’s general manager Jaesun Won recently spoke out about dealing with mental illness in support of Canadian company Bell’s Let’s Talk Day. Won opened up about having what he called “terrible experiences” in the army, which he kept bottled up, eventually causing him to lose his wife, his home, and his son. “I realized that I couldn’t handle it on my own,” Won said. “I learned that talking to …
News
New assault map Paris added in latest Overwatch patch
Olivia Richman
Overwatch players are invited to battle through a sprawling mansion and cobblestone streets in a new assault map, live on PC. The January 30 patch introduces a new map, Paris, as well as a new priority order for health types. Non-recoverable health, shields, and armor are now consumed before the recoverable equivalents. The developer comment explains that the health type order “determines the prioritization of subtracting health, shield, or armor …
News
Atlanta Reign bring fans behind the scenes in AMA
Olivia Richman
A recent AMA featuring Atlanta Reign players and staff was all about taking fans behind the scenes of one of Overwatch League’s newest teams. The AMA session focused more on the players’ personalities than the team’s strategies going into Season 2, as fan loyalty throughout Overwatch League’s first season relied heavily on the charisma and visibility of each team’s players. The idea of the players and staff living together in …
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Pro Overwatch team NYXL featured in documentary
Olivia Richman
The New York Excelsior invited fans to watch the live premier of their full-length documentary “We Are NYXL,” a behind-the-scenes look at the team’s first season in the Overwatch League. The NYXL’s success in earlier stages of OWL Season 1 took a backseat to the team’s disappointment at their Stage 4 performance, which became the focal point for “We Are NYXL” in the latter half of the documentary. The reactions …
News
Overwatch patch adds spectator features, new OWL skins
Fariha Bhatti
A new Overwatch patch is now live across all platforms. Patch 1.32.1 includes updates to the spectator client and introduces new Overwatch League skins to the game. The patch primarily focuses on preparation for the next Overwatch League Season, which begins in February. The in-game spectator client has now been updated to show more match details. The changes include an update on hero portraits to display status effects such as …
News
Top new players to watch as Overwatch League resumes
Fariha Bhatti
Some new challengers are preparing to take the Overwatch League by storm. The second year of the Overwatch League begins on February 14. During the runup to the new season, a total of eight new teams have been introduced to the league, bringing with them a plethora of new players. Existing teams have also been recruiting new players, giving fans a lot of new names to learn before the start …
News
Away team skins now free with OWL skin purchases
Fariha Bhatti
Blizzard has some great news for Overwatch League fans looking to expand their collection of official team skins. Blizzard’s new skin purchasing offer means that for any new Overwatch League skin purchased, players will now receive two different skins for the price of one. During the course of Season 1, players could buy a single skin for a total of 100 Overwatch League tokens, an in-game currency unique to the …
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Overwatch developer reassures fans after silence
Steven Rondina
Overwatch fans may not have heard from him in a while, but Blizzard Vice President Jeff Kaplan wants fans to know that everything is going to be OK. Responding to concerns over “developer silence” on the official Overwatch forums, Kaplan said that the team behind the popular shooter isn’t trying to be quiet. There just isn’t much they’re at liberty to talk about at this time. “We don’t like being …
OWL expansion skins are coming to servers
Fariha Bhatti
News
A new Overwatch patch featuring skins and fixes is currently in development and is now available for testing on PTR servers. The patch mainly focuses on bug fixes. Along with these fixes, the new Overwatch League expansion team skins are now available to preview, and new heroes now sing along with karaoke music in Busan. The Overwatch League skins are based on the colors and uniforms of each OWL team. The …
Brigitte and Doomfist suffer nerfs in latest OW patch
Fariha Bhatti
News
A new Overwatch patch is now live across all platforms, bringing a mixture of buffs and nerfs for various heroes, most notably crowd control nerfs for Doomfist and Brigitte. Torbjorn, McCree, and Bastion have all been buffed for 1.31 as the Winter Wonderland seasonal event goes live. Brigitte’s Shield Bash will now be less effective at stunning enemies, as it will no longer travel through or stun targets hiding behind …
Overwatch League personalities in surprise wedding
gabhernandez
News
A Twitter event using the hashtag #esportsmystery turned out to be a surprise wedding between Overwatch League broadcaster Christopher “MonteCristo” Mykles and London Spitfire manager Susie Kim. Kim and MonteCristo had not previously disclosed the couple’s romance. The pair hid their relationship from the public eye for five years. Their wedding website, which was revealed to Twitter users after they tied the knot, describes how they met and displays pictures …
The matches for OWL’s new season are set
Fariha Bhatti
News
The Overwatch League has announced the full schedule for the league’s second season of play. The schedule was revealed during the league’s official preview show, Watchpoint. The event was hosted on Twitch while the official OWL Twitter later uploaded the schedule for fans to reference. The first matchup of the league’s new season will take place on February 14 as the London Spitfire and Philadelphia Fusion clash. This will be …
Winter Wonderland returns to Overwatch
gabhernandez
News
Overwatch Winter Wonderland, the game’s annual holiday event, returns this year with some new goodies for fans to find. This is the game’s third Winter Wonderland event, with Mei’s Snowball Offensive and Yeti Hunter game modes returning. This is in addition to new arcade games, nine new skins, two emotes, six victory poses, and more that can be pulled out of loot boxes. Mei’s Snowball Offensive is the game’s first …
Cloud9, Overwatch, and Fortnite win at The Game Awards
Fariha Bhatti
League of Legends
Overwatch, Fortnite, and League of Legends were among the big winners at the 2018 Game Awards. The Game Awards is the largest annual game awards ceremony in the video game industry. A panel of more than 60 experts nominated over 100 games for various awards, including multiple esports titles. Blizzard’s FPS Overwatch was named “Esports Game of the Year” after being nominated alongside Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, Fortnite, and …
Vancouver Titans complete new OWL team brandings
Fariha Bhatti
News
All eight Overwatch League expansion teams have now announced their official branding. The eight additional teams were added after the success of Season 1 of the Overwatch League, bringing the total team count for Season 2 to 20. Each of the previous 12 teams had been split into Atlantic and Pacific divisions for the purpose of matchmaking and for the All-Stars competition. Joining the Atlantic division alongside the inaugural champion …
South Korea considers legal action against boosting
gabhernandez
News
South Korea’s government will soon decide on proposed consequences for account boosting in video games. Should they be approved, punishments could include up to two years in jail and a fine of up to 20 million won In June of last year, South Korea’s National Assembly introduced an amendment to the Game Industry Promotion Act to include sanctions against third party vendors that profit from the supplying or providing of …
FTC to investigate loot boxes in video games
gabhernandez
News
The Federal Trade Commission has finally agreed to look into the matter of loot boxes in video games. Loot boxes have long been a controversial issue in video games. Players can spend real world money to purchase loot boxes, only to get a randomized prize. Prizes received are often common and easily acquired, but there is a slim chance at a more rare and prestigious award. The practice has drawn …
Silkthread leaves Chengdu, announces retirement
gabhernandez
News
American DPS Ted “silkthread” Wang has announced his retirement from competitive Overwatch. Silkthread last played for Los Angeles Gladiators. He said had been signed with the Chengdu Hunters for season two, but after discussion with management the organization allowed him to terminate his contract and leave the Overwatch League. His given reason for the decision is burnout and a general lack of satisfaction in professional Overwatch competition. He also cited …
Latest Overwatch patch nerfs Brigitte and Doomfist
Fariha Bhatti
News
A new Overwatch patch is currently in development and is now available for testing on PTR servers. The patch includes a mixture of buffs and nerfs for various heroes, most notably for Doomfist and Brigitte. Torbjorn, McCree and Bastion have all been buffed for 1.31, and developers at Blizzard are continuing to test Windows Spatial Audio support. Doomfist has two adjustments that both act as nerfs to his combos. The …
Three more players coming to Florida Mayhem
Fariha Bhatti
News
The Florida Mayhem have announced the potential signing of three new players to join their roster for the 2019 Overwatch League. Jun-Soo “Kris” Choi, Sang-Bum “BQB” Lee, and Sang-Won “Swon” are set to be the final three players for the Mayhem, as they bring the roster to eight. All the new players come from Contenders teams, with Kris signed from Korean team Meta Athena. Overwatch League players such as NUS …
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.
