Posted in: Blizzard, eSports, Games, Interview, Overwatch 2, Video Games | Tagged: overwatch, Overwatch Champions Series, Overwatch League

Interview: Overwatch Esports Execs Chat About Inaugural OWCS Season

We got to chat with two of the heads of Overwatch Esports at Blizzard about the inagural season of the Overwatch Champions Series

Overwatch has gone through a lot over the past couple of years. The move to Overwatch 2, changing to a Seasonal system, and the influx of so many new characters. However, one of the biggest changes was the closure of the Overwatch League and the move to work with the ESL to run the new Overwatch Champions Series. The inaugural season took place in 2024, bringing with it several changes to the way things had been done in the League, including kicking open the doors for professional esports teams around the globe to compete and take part in major events such as DreamHack. Coming off the World Finals held in Stockholm last month, we got a chance to chat with Director & Head of Overwatch Esports Sean Miller and Senior Product Manager Bailey McCann about this season and the challenges they faced as we look toward 2025.

BC: Hey Sean and Bailey! First off, how are the two of you doing?

Sean: Hello! I'm great, thanks. I recently returned from our trip to Sweden for the OWCS 2024 World Finals and spending Thanksgiving with my family. Now, we're focused on getting ready for the 2025 season and we're super stoked to kick it off for our fans.

Bailey: Thanks for asking! I'm doing great. Just got back from Sweden for the OWCS World Finals – which was an absolute blast. Then I had some time with the family back home for Thanksgiving, too. Now it's full speed ahead, getting ready for 2025! Really looking forward to getting the next season off the ground.

How has it been for each of you working with Blizzard in their esports division?

Sean: It's been a wild ride. I actually started off at Blizzard as an intern, so needless to say, a lot has happened in my time here, and it's been very gratifying to collaborate on Overwatch Esports with the awesome people I get to work with. And now we are at the point with our esport where it feels like things are firing on all cylinders and heading in the exact direction they should be going in.

Bailey: Being at Blizzard has been great for so many reasons. Personally, Blizzard holds a special place in my heart – I got my first PC to play StarCraft, and I used to compete in Overwatch from the first year it came out, so it's a bit of a dream come true to help work on the esport that ignited such a passion in esports for me! I feel really empowered to leverage my own experience as a competitor and help make the experience for our current players even better than before.

Getting right to it, what were your initial thoughts on the closure of the original Overwatch League?

Sean: In the years since we began the Overwatch League, the esports landscape has shifted quite a bit. What we learned over time was that structurally, OWL wasn't able to support our vision for what we wanted Overwatch Esports to be – it got less open to the broader player base the closer you got to the top. Now, with OWCS, the entire structure is open to everyone, so it delivers on the original goal of Overwatch Esports: no matter who you are, you have a path to reach the highest levels if you're good enough at the game.

What was that period like between OWL going away and OWCS starting up?

Sean: We made the decision in collaboration with our franchise partners to pivot from OWL to OWCS in Fall 2023, and from there we put together the OWCS program over the next 3-4 months or so. It was a major priority to make sure that we didn't leave our fans without a marquee esports program for too long.

What was the process like in joining forces with ESL FACEIT Group and starting up the new Overwatch Champions Series?

Bailey: It helps a lot that we're working with a global partner who has invested a great deal into Overwatch, and esports more broadly, across their business. Working with EFG, we've directly integrated FACEIT, which is their competitive gaming platform, into Overwatch itself. That in-game integration with FACEIT is the easiest and most accessible tool we've ever used for match assignments and reporting, and it's a very helpful resource for our players. Also, we just announced that starting in 2025, FACEIT League will serve as the qualifier for OWCS via a new promotion and relegation system. We're expecting this to produce some great storylines and high-stakes moments, and ensure that our top up-and-coming talent has an opportunity to make it to the big stage – creating a cohesive esports ecosystem that offers competition to folks of all skill levels.

What was the reaction of players and staff to having established esports teams competing as opposed to having league-specific teams?

Bailey: Overwatch League team brands hold a special place in many people's hearts – myself included as a D.C. native. With the move to OWCS, our fans have been receptive to endemic esports organizations getting involved in Overwatch Esports directly. Not only does that enable fan-favorite organizations from other esports to easily establish a presence in our ecosystem, but it also paved the way for the Team Partner Program we just announced for 2025. Through this, we're able to support up to nine OWCS teams across North America, EMEA, and Asia. It's a wonderful tool to help support our most dedicated players and teams, where fans can also get involved with their favorite Partner Teams by purchasing in-game cosmetics featuring their branding, and Partner Teams will receive a portion of the proceeds.

Was it easy to get people on board with the new system and have EFG involved? Or did it feel like an uphill climb starting over from scratch?

Sean: It didn't feel like starting over from scratch in the sense that the process of putting OWCS together drew on thoughts and ideas that we've been considering and discussing for the past decade or so – things we've learned from running our esports programs and observing other publishers' programs. EFG was also a production partner for Overwatch League and has a ton of esports production experience, which gave us confidence that our fans would be able to experience the level of programming they're accustomed to.

I was in DreamHack Dallas and saw the overwhelming fan reactions to having games people could attend in person. How important is it now to step away from LAN events and get back to in-person play?

Bailey: The energy at the live events is something really special that you have to just experience yourself to understand. Once you're in the arena, with the crowd, the talent, and the big screen showcasing some awesome Overwatch – it will just completely capture you. Events like World Finals are an important part of how our esports offerings maintain Overwatch's core audience and build a base of long-term fans. And not even just Overwatch fans – bringing OWCS to festivals like DreamHack helps to integrate Overwatch into the larger esports community, offering more ways than ever before to get involved with things such as music, cosplay, and other activities that we know a ton of both our casual and hardcore fans love.

Do you foresee a point where OWCS could swing back to being mostly in-person like how it was with the Blizzard Arena, kind of like how a lot of Counter-Strike 2 events are held?

Bailey: Having a substantial portion of competition online is actually an important part of the process, in that it allows us to open up OWCS to everyone, anywhere, and it enables us to just host more competitive Overwatch. It wouldn't be realistic to accommodate hundreds and hundreds of teams at an in-person venue, and it's important to us that we're creating more opportunities for as many players and fans as possible.

You just wrapped up DreamHack Stockholm. What are your thoughts on everything as you close out Year One?

Sean: To me, DreamHack Stockholm was the culmination of proving out a year-long experiment of an open ecosystem and making Overwatch Esports more accessible, and that this experiment is working with flying colors! The event itself was fantastic, being able to have the development team showcase Hazard was huge, and watching the orchestra there play our new OWCS theme songs right before Grand Finals was a really powerful experience for me, and I'm sure for many others. The passion from fans that you saw in Dallas was there in Stockholm too, and it was a great way to close out our inaugural season and set the stage for the next one.

What are some of the biggest lessons you learned this year, and what steps will you be taking to improve from this season?

Bailey: Esports can be a bit daunting to a casual fan or player of a game, and because of that we knew we wanted to make OWCS easier to just jump into so you can watch some good gameplay. To that end, we've streamlined our 2025 season format across regions, created a longer season with another live event to create even more cool memories for our fans, and got every single game in NA and EMEA broadcasted so our fans won't miss a single moment of the action and can connect with our top players better than ever before. Also, to piggyback on what Sean just said, that was another important learning for us: the events are invaluable touchpoints with fans, and we knew we wanted to do even more of them next year. These live events are magical and we know how special they are to our players. We're so stoked to add another live event so we can serve as many of our fans as possible.

What can we look forward to in 2025 when the competition returns?

Sean: There's a ton to look forward to! The three live events, the new promotion and relegation system, the Team Partner Program, and another season of high-level Overwatch competition for everyone to enjoy. And fans won't have to wait much longer; we wanted to shorten our offseason and get back into the action as soon as possible, which is why we're coming back in January. Hope you'll join us!

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