![]() ![]() However, the largest issue with Overwatch’s popularity came when in 2020, when the wave of allegations against Activision Blizzard’s management came to light, and the state of California launched its lawsuit against the company. These decisions would include signing an exclusive streaming deal with Youtube in 2020, which at the time may have seemed lucrative, however, due to Youtube’s lack of stream integration into their site, ended up hurting the Overwatch League’s discoverability. The other (and probably most significant issue) was controversial decisions made by the OWL, which would strain audiences and pro players alike. The first is Overwatch’s popularity declining over the years, making it harder to attract new viewers. So how did it slowly lose so much goodwill to where before OW2 launched, the OWL was lucky to garner 50k viewers? Depending on who you ask, it was a mix of two things. The game also made for a rough viewing experience, as its fast-paced nature makes it incredibly difficult to follow along live. Common criticisms were that the game is too ult-reliant, and heroes are too unbalanced to properly make into a fair Esport. Unfortunately, through the years that Overwatch’s weaknesses as an Esport became more apparent. They would eventually have an incredible comeback story, winning the world’s tournament in 2021. The only team ever in the history of sports to hold that statistic. There was the infamous Shanghai Dragons, who in their first year, had a historic 0-40 series. However, in its short stint in popularity, Overwatch managed to make its own space in the Esports scene. This acclaim quickly deteriorated over the years, and before Overwatch 2 had launched, the Overwatch League was lucky to break into the five-figure range. Even DJ Khaled played at the Overwatch League Finals. When it debuted, it launched to huge numbers, garnering a consistent ten million viewers at launch, and had a prize pool of a million dollars for its first world tournament. Several orgs pulled out of Overwatch competitive scene entirely due to complications with the OWL, who would shut down other start-up competitions, and alongside having a rumoured 20 million dollar entry fee for teams. When the Overwatch League was announced in 2016 and set to launch the following year, due to unexpected circumstances, it was quickly delayed to 2018. Overwatch as a competitive sport didn’t start off too great. If you’ve followed the OWL in the past, you could understand why. After completing all the weekly challenges, you’ll only receive 50 Overwatch coins for your efforts, meaning it would take around 40 battle passes to be able to afford one skin.įor the OWL to hand out so many freebies shows a deliberate effort to make sure that audiences tune in and have a reason to stay around. ![]() The battle pass also gives some Overwatch gold coins, however only a crumb. Many have criticised Overwatch 2’s monetisation on launch, as skins can go up to $20 each, and without loot boxes, there are no alternative ways to receive skins without spending almost half the price of the original Overwatch, or through a controversial battle pass. Each skin costs between 200-300 OWL tokens, with bundles costing 500. For every hour you watch the OWL, you’ll receive 5 tokens and an extra 100 tokens for every 30 hours watching. Blizzard also launched a new exclusive store in the client where you earn tokens to spend on cosmetics only available in this shop. To hype the season up and convince audiences to tune in, they offered prizes such as exclusive skins, sprays and gun buddies.
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