The Biggest Disaster in Esports History

OverWatch was a very successful game. People all over the world loved it. You know, no one anticipated how significant and big the success of the game would be. Obviously, when it was announced that Blizzard would be starting the OverWatch League. NFL for

esports

, yes, that is our vision for how we are going to celebrate and reward our players: to build a league that is like the NFL only. Global prophet with three, now it's four players alone and the Spitfires are coming out on top with this one. find five deaths in this Bring. Anyone thinks it's enough.

Personally, I was a little worried because it sounded like a logistical nightmare. There were conversations from people saying they must have had a hard time setting this up, so I think over time the league lost. a lot of his personality started to feel very soft, well you know you want your team to win, sure, they're going to have to play. What's better from a visual perspective, it was certainly boring seeing the same heroes and you know. every map in every match, right, I couldn't talk publicly about Owl while I was working at Twitch, but you better believe I was the guy in every meeting saying this is stupid and you all are stupid at some point.

What the hell do you guys want a frat boy culture? That's how Activision Blizzard is now described here in this new lawsuit. The danger here is YouTube. You know, we don't want to partner with you because T-Mobile doesn't. I don't want to be associated with you Coca-Cola I don't want to be associated with you We were doing more than fumbling in the dark We were crashing into walls like there just weren't any, it was just a double shield there was no hope in the middle of it we were behind the scenes working on something that wasn't a sequel, then a sequel, everything changed.

There is a community that wants a lot of OverWatch back and they believe that a lot of the magic was lost in 55. I think more and more people will start to realize that. maybe we had something better, there was no need for OverWatch 2, it was a cash grab marketing scam that made them abandon the first game for years, it's like a perfect storm that would take down an

esports

league, it's crazy how many bad ones OverWatch League decisions were made over the years, it's been something like 17 years since Blizzard opened the door to a new adventure and, my friends, the season ends now.

OverWatch soldiers, scientists, adventurers, when OverWatch launched on May 24, 2016, it was something new, a MOA style hero. shooter that brought together many of my favorite gaming elements into one mind-blowing offering, it felt like a bit of a throwback to Saturday morning cartoon heroes, like you know, my childhood and all those skills. Shooters are common now, but at the time it was still a relatively new thing and I think it wasn't just me, I think the gaming community at large was very excited about it, there was a palpable sense of excitement and before long OverWatch blew up so much. in terms of active player base and hours spent playing. game more than 7 million players have joined the Overwatch fight towards the future on all three platforms. 190 million hours of the game have been played since its release on May 24.

It's so fluid, so fresh, so dynamic, so responsive, that it's absolutely ridiculous on every level. I mean it's my favorite game, needless to say this is my favorite game right now. OverWatch was designed with esports in mind and early on some regional competitions like Apex Korea showed us what was possible in this new game, but all of them were eventually swallowed up by the blizzard in preparation for the launch of the OverWatch League. we designed OverWatch from the ground up to excel as a competitive game we are looking for the best players in the world and the owners of the teams that will form the OverWatch League there will be regular hours professional contracts free agency minimum salaries and basic benefits that provide more stability for teams and players When it was announced that Blizzard was starting or watching League obviously everyone was very excited everyone thought it was going to be a huge step forward for esports, it was definitely seen as this moment where esports was going to become legit because obviously it's something that esports has struggled with for a long time and there was talk that we were going to have minimum salaries of 50,000 and you know the players were going to have healthcare. and pensions, and you know it's going to be incredible, it's going to be something on a grand scale.

These guys will get paid to do this. The league minimum is $50k a year, yes, and how high does it potentially go? it's not a salary cap, which is why the scale is so good and to me it's the demand of the players now, so the OverWatch league is like Mike, like the NFL, like the current version of the NFL is only online, yes, Megan, as well as. They've dialed it in, I mean, now they're imagining Boston playing New York or Boston playing Houston and Miami playing Houston, players flocked to the scene chasing new opportunities and glory and chasing a different kind of opportunity, investors they started. to participate as well once I think the crafts group came out and officially became a sponsor of the Boston Uprising, so it was kind of like, oh, this is big and I'm pretty sure the crafts group was like, you know , They're millionaires, I guess they all hang out together and said, oh, I own an esports team, you should own an esports team, and they all moved and started buying and paying for esports equipment, and that's when it was like, oh, we've got like something really big here and it's bigger than I think anyone thought.

This is being touted as the next NFL compared to the Premier League of the future. What is your vision for this? Really, yes, that is our vision of how we are going to celebrate. and rewarding our players is building a league that's like the NFL just globally and it's going to take some time, but what's going to make it really easy is having great partners like Robert Craft in terms of really valuing the franchise, what did it cost them? The franchise starts approximately and how much do you think it's worth right now? Shortly after, it was reported that he is in the range of $20 million for the first teams.

That's pretty accurate, but that's not what you'd actually pay. Do you think you could sell it? much more than that now, although absolutely yes for the fans, although it wasn't just about the money, this was the beginning of a new era, a huge new offering and the people we are here for. 113 players from 19 countries have been signed. all of them with one goal to be crowned champion of season 1, the wait is finally over, it's time to start the inaugural season of the OverWatch league, but it seems that the Boston uprising is too busy trying to take the point that is the duel of the widows. one again Philadelphia Fusion will come out on top Striker though he hits a big triple on the blitz there the graviton helps both supports get trapped that's what they needed but C attacks again Down K B com what are you doing?

This is incredible, you kill. Here we go in favor of the Gladiators, another trick that tries to go from hydration to agility. We know how devastating the hack is. Now your F like, oh, it's got another jump. Gets the KN back bar. This is a bit complicated. The fish breaks it, the fish doesn't. many widowers would choose this piece, they have a pine forest and he absolutely nails it here, even the machine gun, what a film, another beautiful one. I think it was initially pitched like you know the NFL for esports and it seemed a little over the top, but there was something.

A part of you wanted to believe that I still remember the moment of loading on opening night. I think it was San Francisco against Valiant or something like that. 300,000 viewers on Twitch and the show is starting and it's hard to see that number. It's not like that, damn, this could really be something, oh the inaugural season was incomparable, the energy it brought to all the new fans it brought because it not only brought new fans to the game but also to competitive esports in general, okay, I like this. from the gladi this is this is nice they are going to try to circle around the Spitfire they want to interrupt this a little here where are you going where are you oh The High Ground oh this is so unpleasant?

He's relaxing in spawn. I'm I'm going to call this the merry-go-round because it makes me laugh, it makes me happy and Sh stops he switches to the Widowmaker at just the right moment, the closer falls and it's day at the range for L Roberts, but despite all the excitement , passionate fans. and Avid fans, there were questions too. Blizzard was promising more than any esports league in

history

, a city-based model with home-and-home games, new stadiums, and more infrastructure than anything before. Could they really achieve it? You know, we thought with the OverWatch league in the city format, which is not only unique for esports, you know, a league where Shanghai plays Los Angeles in the regular season has never been done in esports, it's really the first of its kind and, uh, we think that Personally, I was a little worried because it sounded like a logistical nightmare: they were aiming too high and they could reach the goal that he wanted with everyone traveling.

Considering again the logistical nightmares, as I said before, with the places with visas, preparations, etc., it was a difficult dream to achieve, obviously there is a huge fan base that wants to interact with this content live, go and attend events and They feel part of the global community that celebrates the best players in the world. OverWatch is a global sport, right? OverWatch is a game that is played all over the world, so it was important for us to have a global league. There's a huge audience in the US, but we also have a huge audience in China, Korea, France, Germany and the UK.

Brazil around the world, it was being promoted a lot to the point that this has to be bigger and I think even though there were conversations after the announcement, when they went a little quiet, there were conversations of people saying that they had to having a hard time setting this up, let's just leave it to Ally and MoneyWise and sell it to people, but at first. years the league blew up new and returning fans tuned in and fell in love with something really over the top is this the secret weapon for the London Spitfire is this the answer to your problem again that Harold's

disaster

in general for the merger and C was not far behind prophet with three, he's killed four players now alone and the Spitfires are making this gain, five kills in this TR and you think that's enough, but OverWatch as a game was increasingly struggling with balance and meta issues and, little by little, but it surely soured the league's fan base and one particularly egregious offender was the goats, as we saw, so season 2 came along and, you know, players started to really orbit around in a very safe way to play, we had the goats meta spawn, which was the composition. that didn't have DPS players, I think we're just going to focus on the basics, you know, just play goats and this is still the stalemate between both teams, but London, with that sound barrier, looks to end this fight, such support, there is nothing. one is dying anywhere in this bird's rings, got another grab, the second end of the fight is going to catch several again, the follow up is not there yet.

Transcendence can keep you alive and now someone finally dies and it turns out to be a profit and that is, in a nutshell, goats. From a viewing perspective, it was certainly boring seeing the same heroes you meet on every map every match, you know? I feel like it's something that could have been fixed a lot sooner than it was, you know, we needed a patch and stuff. didn't come for some reason, we see that the Outlaws are going to take out D's Tracer. These have been some of the things that Outlaw fans have been waiting for.

He is a good Tracer player in Houston. He's Jake so far. This combo worked well. them before, but as soon as they see the defensive setup, they will simply change it, crucial time wasted. Here For the Outlaws just let the fans give their opinion, the fans here in the studio give their opinion, well you know you want your team to win. true, they're going to have to play meta chat. I can't imagine what it's like to be a professional player right now. chatchat. I want you to think about this. Okay, people and pro gamers hang out probably 6-8 hours a day and I think after a while we realized that maybe it wasn't really conducive to exciting gameplay or at least a varied variety of gaming styles. different games, so there was definitely a dark patch in season 2 where VPSs weren't necessary.

However, the one thing the community found repetitive as the OverWatch League became more and more commercialized, some players and teams began to feel redundant. Personal Touch, the magic that attracted so many people in the beginning wasstarting to fade, so I think over time the league lost. a lot of his personality started to feel very bland and you know, there were so many teams, like 20 teams, and it was like I cared that team 18 was playing team 17, no, not really, and even again, like said. That game was not much different from any other. More and more people began to feel that the fan experience simply wasn't the same and negative feelings began to spread throughout the league.

Some people began to question the future of the entire Enterprise. I've seen people say, well, the goats are dead, um and now it's just a double sniper and that's going to be terrible or, oh, now everyone's just going to play with McCree and at some point I'm like, what the hell do they want? you? In other words, they don't want them to eat all the ults in the game like Diva, it's not right, it makes sense, there are these moments of regret. What you have as a game developer and maybe eating everyone's ult is one of those, but there was a big change on the horizon for the OverWatch League, but none of the fans wanted to make the decision to bring the OverWatch League broadcasts Twitch to YouTube. was instantly controversial, especially after reports that they left a $90 million deal behind when the Twitch deal collapsed and then what Blizzard did was a deal with YouTube to put everything exclusively on YouTube, which caused a ton of problems. because you really want your ort on Twitch if I'm totally honest, I couldn't speak publicly about Owl while I was working at Twitch for obvious reasons, but you better believe I was the guy in every meeting, saying this is stupid and you all are stupid and I didn't feel good.

I'll tell you why I didn't feel good because that League cost a lot of money and a year later 11 Mying staff members were fired. OverWatch had the highest average minutes of viewership of any channel on Twitch. What we have learned is a couple. One of the things is you have to go for the

biggest

audience, right? And if we had to make a change, I'd say let's not go to YouTube or go exclusive just yet, buddy, there's also a good chance the OS league will just continue. Dying completely like this is a big change guys, we've been watching the Corona virus for weeks.

We continue to see market action around the updates we receive, but the Corona virus is also affecting esports such as popular gaming leagues like Activision Blizzards. OverWatch and 10-cent Holdings Riot league games because it seems like the Corona virus has spread to South Korea and more countries, Soul Dynasty's home stands will be canceled and when they found out that the virus was spreading, they had They had to rush packing all their stuff so they could make a last minute flight back, this is terrifying, Co Strunk man, at the worst possible time for the OverWatch League, we were just moving towards what was the long term dream of the OverWatch League: Having the foundation to really make this city. -Model work based on There's more to come after the break What's that?

I think so, it's the Invoy Excel version of the London Spitfire. If that could have happened, it would have been magical before the OverWatch League and it could have been an incredibly different future than what we are seeing now because that was the Grand Vision. There were many changes with online matches. What was the

biggest

learning for you? In terms of adapting to these new situations, obviously, we are our own rooms. They know we are. on the team they talk together, huh, so it's not really as human as I would say, despite some arguments that Co actually extended the owl's lifespan, ultimately leaving the most interesting thing in the league in a background indefinitely and that was eventually devastating for the pandemic. began to decline, perhaps that could have been an opportunity for the league to return to its original plans, but instead Activision Blizzard had to deal with another kind of disease of the kind that rots companies from the inside, a culture of frat boys, that's how Activision Blizzard is.

Now described here in this new lawsuit filed by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, the agency alleges that male employees play video games during the workday while delegating responsibilities to female employees, engaging in sexual pranks, and openly joking about sex. rape, among other things. They are making the girls do all the work while talking about rape and harassment. I saw that a lot of people just wanted to boycott the league when that news started coming out, all the Blizzard infighting really just caused more damage and sponsorship. In the end we also had all these different sponsors and now, poof, it's all over, the danger here is YouTube, you know, we don't want to be associated with you because T-Mobile doesn't want to be associated with you.

Coca-Cola, no. I don't want to be associated with you. Brands like that were no longer investing money and of course that's going to hurt. You know the bottom line if you have teams all over the world and you're spending money to bring DJ Khed to perform. in your finals and sponsors are pulling out because of news emerging that your company may have been an absolutely horrible workplace for women. I don't understand how you can maintain an expensive esports league while that happens. For a long time I think they have been a horrible company. They haven't been that Golden Age blizzard.

People like to pretend they still are. It's a company that is so out of touch and corrupt that it's disgusting that it was. It was a shame to see that happen to League because as far as I know, you know some of the whole machinery at Blizzard Activision really didn't deserve that hit, so they certainly felt the effects. right, the sponsors that went through you don't know that they are blameless, so I think they ended up being secondary victims of the whole situation, where you know they were also very negatively affected by all of this that happened and what maybe be.

The saddest thing to recognize is that many of the developers that you might consider heroes, I think are my heroes, may have known about this all along and maybe even participated in it. It's horrible and even as public outrage over the harassment lawsuit and The Demons Within threatened to tear Blizzard apart, players were getting fed up with the lack of meaningful changes, worse yet, Blizzard seemed to be focusing on OverWatch 2 instead of looking for ways to improve the original game. but Jackson now finally unleashed that support and the last thing he was saving is more than enough to try and take them out and the purple drop means there will be a lack of cures for Sou too, maybe this is a good take I think. this is the worst thing that can happen to OverWatch this is finished it's not fun it's not skill it's a dog this is so bad I don't know why people are going to say oh what about Brig's release or what about the goats? or no this is so bad there were no lights in that tunnel so that tunnel was pitch black we were doing more than just poking around in the dark we were crashing into walls like there just weren't any it was just a double shield there was no hope no communication zero nothing at all and once again Blizzard seemed obsessed with the wrong problems OverWatch has always been played with two teams of six players OverWatch 2 will be played with two teams of five players holy I think it's going to suck for long term players off-tanks because it will inevitably mean we'll probably see some tank players getting attacked and losing their jobs somehow.

I'd say it looks better than before, but there's a long way to go. There is no way this is the work that had been done in 2 years. There's just no way that many people would be frustrated about losing what we had in OverWatch. One of the biggest draws they had for the game was The fact that it was a 6v6 Arena shooter, not a 5v5 like every other game you know, is kind of like that, so I think there are a lot of unhappy people out there who are missing out on things. like that because they don't want some of their favorite characters to be reworked because you know you might have to learn a completely different playstyle depending on which hero you like to play, you're literally cutting a whole reel, it's like baseball, now not we have a short shutdown, suddenly they cut a release and teams have to adapt, there is a community that wants a lot of the fun back from OverWatch and they think a lot of the magic was lost in 55, whether or not that can be fixed by updating tanks or weakening supports, we will do it.

Look, we'll see until next year, if that's the case, if it doesn't get better, next year, I think more people will start to realize that maybe we had something better, and even when OverWatch 2 came out as promised. and the long-awaited PVE mode never materialized at all, the player base began to grow with everything we've learned about what it takes to operate this game at the level you deserve. It's clear we can't deliver on that original vision for PVE which was proven in 2019 that there was no need for OverWatch 2, it was a cash grab marketing scam that made them abandon the first game for years and just try to get cash skins and an improved store, anyone trying to tell you this hasn't been the greatest. rip-off manipulation in the

history

of multiplayer gaming is lying through its teeth crisis after crisis had eroded the foundation of the OverWatch League a lethal combination of potential unfulfilled promises and unrelenting monetary problems threatened to shut down what was supposed to was the most important thing esports has to offer When reports of mass layoffs on the esports side began to emerge, it was time to admit that the death of the OverWatch League was no longer a matter of if, but rather a victory, more than anything else, the legacy of the league is going to be uh.

As sad as a legacy of failure to do what the Americans say, biting off more than you can chew, perhaps going too big without really having the framework, the infrastructure and the management in place, may be. I mean, I've heard so many horrors. stories about league management from OverWatch, you know if it's the organizations or the teams and I think obviously it's a little bit of caution, you know you have to make sure that you have the base that the fans support, the teams, the leadership that you need to be able to. running something this big, it doesn't help that the league was only around for 2 years before a global pandemic hit, it doesn't help that in the middle of it they were behind the scenes working on a non-sequel, then sequel, everything changed, something so, you know, it's like a perfect storm that would take down an esports league.

Now it didn't look like Blizzard was ready to announce its plans for OverWatch Esports at or around the 2023 Toronto Finals, but everything was written: this was going to be the League's last Harrah. It's probably better for the health of all Esports and probably better for the health of the players. It is dying alone because the format itself is not self-sustaining. It was inevitable at some point, so sooner rather than later, I think it's probably a lesson for people in terms of the ambition behind what ESP Sports is. I think people presumably expected the OverWatch League to become something like a billionaire. sports rival, I think it just can't reach the heights that maybe we expected and I think probably when you start putting in 20 to 30 million, the return on investment was going to be difficult.

Watch League has been a very ambitious project from day one and a decent portion of that ambition has been fulfilled, a lot of that has been left on the table and you know, in an alternate timeline we can only imagine what it would have been like. I think we'll see Leag become that. could have been amazing ended up being disappointing because you know the idea was great that there should be a proper league for esports and a properly managed ecosystem for professional gamers where they feel job security where they can grow without fear of Well, if we don't win this tournament, we will be out of work.

I think unfortunately people will see the OverWatch league as an example of what not to do and it's hard not to see it that way. How the league has been going I had high expectations and hopes for this when I started, I mean I moved to the other side of the world so I completely changed my career to OverWatch, look, you know, I really believed in it given everything that happened. With the league, you know the team is already folding, you know? I mean, it's probably best if the OverWatch League disappears after this finals, and I want to be clear that that doesn't mean OverWatch Esports should disappear.

I think OverWatch Esports can happen. You know, a resurrection almost right where it is, now we're going to be able to start building things again in a more genuine form of grassroots Esports, the Over Watch League gave organizations the option to vote ifthey wanted it or not. to continue playing in the current system or reduce their losses, get paid and retire, everyone chose the ladder to permanently close the coffin of the OverWatch League. They are all incredible individuals and truly deserved better. Unfortunately, although the power ends in B, that was a lot. stronger than them and I think OverWatch could have been amazing in that department, but they really failed in the bag and didn't fail it once they failed it and then failed it again.

It's crazy how many bad decisions the OverWatch League has made over the years. The biggest turn in the history of Esports turned out to be a failure. OverWatch Esports will, of course, persevere, but the gigantic, ambitious OverWatch League that was supposed to change Esports as we know it no longer exists with this game and its Esports, as you just saw. huge potential, but then you see that they are not fulfilled and they always come from senior management positions and people who are on the ground who really do the good work are always fired, but there was definitely interest and this is what makes it sad, I think That with OverWatch League the community remains as passionate as ever.

The fans who stuck with OverWatch through thick and thin are still here cheering for what comes next. The commotion it generated at the beginning. The general interest was so crazy. I think being such a unique model there was a lot of potential for it to really flourish, obviously in the end it was too ambitious and people will remember that we knew what this league could have been, we saw it in the first season. , even the second one for a while, could have been something incredible and there were many special moments, it could have really taken the esports scene by storm and been something legendary that people would remember forever despite the disappointment they might feel in some aspects.

It's always good to remember that it brought back some special memories and that a lot of these players aren't to blame for any of this, they worked their hearts out for this and it was amazing, honestly even when it's gone I think we can all be kind. To cherish these memories, I think it's something that captured some special things that no other esports could do.