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Team Spain coach announces withdrawal from Overwatch World Cup
gabhernandez
Jonathan “HarryHook” Tejedor Rua has announced via Twitter that Team Spain will have to brave the Overwatch World Cup without a coach. HarryHook expressed his disappointment in Blizzard’s decision against letting the team bring in a replacement coach, noting that if it were Team USA making the request he was sure that they would be able to get a substitute. Shortly after, Sergi “Paranoidxz” Carrasco Marsiñach posted his explanation for …
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South Korea defeats Finland in Overwatch World Cup Qualifier
gabhernandez
South Korea secured a win over Finland in of the Overwatch World Cup’s most anticipated qualifying games. While South Korea is the favorite to win it all, the Finnish team looked good going into the match. Finland’s roster was stacked with six big name Overwatch League players from five different teams. Finland’s players represent the Philadelphia Fusion, Houston Outlaws, Dallas Fuel, Florida Mayhem, and the Los Angeles Gladiators. South Korea’s …
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neptuNo withdraws from Spanish World Cup team
gabhernandez
Alberto “neptuNo” González Molinillo has announced on Twitter that he will not be playing for Spain in the Overwatch World Cup in September. NeptuNo stated that he would be taking a break from professional Overwatch because he wanted time to see friends and focus on becoming a better player for the Overwatch League in Season 2. Originally, neptuNo was announced as one of the starting support players for team Spain. …
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JAKE to cast the Overwatch World Cup
gabhernandez
Jake “JAKE” Lyon announced on Twitter that he would be joining Andrew “ZP” Rush in casting the second Overwatch World Cup. In a follow-up tweet, JAKE said that he was not retiring from professional play, but that he just wanted to try something new. He is paired with veteran Overwatch caster ZP who casted the first World Cup and has been casting games for various tournaments and competitions, including Contenders …
Philadelphia Fusion open tryouts to new players
gabhernandez
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The Philadelphia Fusion have announced through their official Twitter that they will be holding open tryouts for the Overwatch League team entering next season. Any player with a peak Skill Rating over 4300 can try out for the team by filling out a provided form. Submission of the form does not guarantee an in-game tryout, and it is up to the coaching staff to pick players who have a real …
Seagull retires from OWL, returns to streaming
gabhernandez
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Brandon “Seagull” Learned has announced via Twitter that he is leaving professional esports and is returning to streaming full-time, effective immediately. On his Twitch stream, Seagull pulled up his Twitter where he had just announced his departure from pro Overwatch team Dallas Fuel and from the Overwatch pro scene altogether. Seagull explained that he had experienced health problems while competing that needed his attention, such as a 40-pound weight gain …
Dynasty won’t allow Spitfire fan meeting in Seoul
gabhernandez
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London Spitfire General Manager Susie Kim has announced that the Seoul Dynasty would not approve a fan meeting in Seoul for the Spitfire, whose players are all from South Korea. The backlash was instantaneous, with some fans criticising her transparency and the team’s lack of planning for a London meetup. Kim indicated that the team was working on a fan meetup in London for October, but that the team had …
Boston Uprising to hold open tryouts
William Davis
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Overwatch League team Boston Uprising is holding tryouts for aspiring players looking to join a professional team, the organization announced through Twitter. With the inaugural season of the Overwatch League coming to a close, the London Spitfire came out on top at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Now, teams are getting ready for next year’s second season, and that means bringing in fresh blood. It is expected that teams will …
Expansion slots announced for OWL season 2
Fariha Bhatti
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The first expansion slots for Overwatch League Season 2 have been sold, with teams in Guangzhou and Atlanta officially joining the roster. A Paris team is also said to be in the final stages of a deal with Blizzard, potentially bringing three new teams to the competition for the next season. The Atlanta group was the first to finalise a deal, with rights for the expansion being sold to Georgia’s …
DJ Khaled falls flat at OWL grand finals
gabhernandez
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DJ Khaled struggled to hype up the crowd at the Overwatch League Grand Finals in Brooklyn. Blizzard hired the high-profile musical artist to entertain the crowd for the last day of the finals. Fan reactions leading up to the performance were mixed. The producer made his way onto the stage to a loud reaction. He played some of his most popular songs, but his multiple attempts to cut the music …
OWL Players Attend Olympic Discussions with Blizzard
William Davis
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Jacob “JAKE” Lyon and Kim “Geguri” Se-yeon are set to attend the Esports Forum. The event will be hosted by the International Olympic Committee and Global Association of International Sports Federations. It’s set to take place in Lausanne, Switzerland between July 20 and July 21. Rick Fox, former NBA player and owner of Echo Fox, will moderate the forum. JAKE and Geguri will represent the Overwatch community alongside Mike Morhaime, …
Overwatch is free to play this July
Fariha Bhatti
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Blizzard has announced that Overwatch will be free to play on PC from July 26 to July 30. The free weekend is part of the celebrations for the Overwatch League’s upcoming grand final. During the weekend, those accessing the game for free will be able to play all of the game’s heroes. This includes newly released hero Wrecking Ball. All game modes will also be available with the exception of …
Houston Outlaws add official cosplayer to team
Fariha Bhatti
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Houston Outlaws have announced a new member of the Outlaws organization. But rather than inviting a new professional Overwatch player, the team has introduced an official cosplayer. Twitter user JTBass3, known by her handle ‘Lucy in Disguise’, was given the opportunity after appearing at fan-organised watch parties in cosplay as D.Va in the Houston Outlaws skin. Before formally joining Houston, Lucy made a name for herself within the team’s fan …
Exclusive rewards available to fans during OWL finals
Fariha Bhatti
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Blizzard has announced that exclusive in-game rewards will be available to Overwatch fans watching the Overwatch League broadcast on Twitch. Players who watch OWL matches on Twitch will receive double the usual amount of league tokens per map played, as well as exclusive sprays for use in-game. The double multiplier on league tokens will be applied at the end of each map, so players can earn two points instead of …
London Spitfire head to OWL grand final
gabhernandez
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Orange and blue confetti spilled over the Overwatch Arena on Friday, signifying the London Spitfire’s victory over the Los Angeles Valiant and granting the Spitfire a spot in the Overwatch League finals. The Spitfire have been on a roll since their reverse sweep win over the Los Angeles Gladiators in the previous series. That crushing defeat of the Valiant gave them all the momentum they needed to break into the …
London Spitfire reverse sweeps Los Angeles Gladiators, advance to semifinals
gabhernandez
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In a surprising show of vengeance, the London Spitfire won six straight maps and reverse swept the Los Angeles Gladiators to make their way to the first Overwatch League semifinals. In the first match of the quarterfinals, the Gladiators swept the Spitfire 3-0 to take a 1-0 lead in the series. Going into day two, London was able to take the first match in an easy 3-0 victory, leaving them …
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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