Posted in: Activision, Blizzard, eSports, Games, Overwatch, Overwatch 2, Video Games | Tagged: activision blizzard, Overwatch League

Is The Overwatch League Done? Team Owners To Vote On Its Fate

This may be the last year of the Overwatch League, as organizers at Activision Blizzard have given team owners an option out.

If it feels like you haven't heard a lot about what's happening with the Overwatch League lately, that's okay. A lot of us haven't, even those of us who keep an eye on it. To say that this year hasn't felt all that special is an understatement, as the League's presence isn't what it used to be when it first launched in 2018, and it feels like organizers and teams barely do anything to promote weekly matches or hype people up to watch. Now it feels like this year may be the last as it appears there may be a buyout option on the table for all the teams, which might effectively kill the League entirely.

The word came down this week in some financial filings by Activision Blizzard that the league has been facing issues and that they amended some of the terms in the league to essentially give the team owners an out. In short, saying that if they do not wish to finish out the 2023 season, they can terminate their participation with a $6m termination fee. Which, in many ways, feels like the company trying to gain some money back before the Microsoft acquisition is final, which included laying off dozens of people from their esports division days after a judge ruled against the FTC block. Here's the paragraph in full.

"As previously disclosed, our collaborative arrangements for our professional esports leagues continue to face headwinds. During the second quarter, we amended certain terms of our collaborative arrangements with team entities participating in the Overwatch League. According to the amended terms, following the conclusion of the current Overwatch League season, the teams will vote on an updated operating agreement. If the teams do not vote to continue under an updated operating agreement, a termination fee of $6 million will be payable to each participating team entity (total fee of approximately $114 million). As of June 30, 2023, a termination liability has not been accrued. Total revenues from the Overwatch League comprise less than 1% of our consolidated net revenues."

It's a shame the League has fallen on hard times, but in many ways, the results are due to the organization's own poor decisions and failure to capitalize on things at the right moments. Sure, there are the issues it had with problematic players and having their insane contracts and weird rulebooks leaked. Plus, the pandemic didn't do the League any favors being LAN only for two years with no crowd support. But the biggest issue for OWL over the years was the fact that all of the teams were created by mostly non-esports groups with little to no experience, while blocking out any established pro teams from being in the League that you see playing other games such as Valorant, CS:GO, Rainbow Six Siege, and other FPS team titles. Essentially killing any potential those groups would have had of bringing their own dedicated fanbases over to the new sport to cheer their favorite team. (Call of Duty League, another AB esports system, operates the same way. However, they at least let established organizations make their own unique teams, such as FaZe Clan operating the Atlanta Faze.)

Ultimately, for years, it feels like the Overwatch League has felt like an exclusive club that's been hard for fans to get into, difficult for media to cover compared to other games, and even harder for pro esports athletes to compete in without sacrificing a ton of freedoms. There was so much potential, especially when you think back to that first year when they operated out of the Blizzard Arena in Burbank. If the owners do the buyout, and the League does shut down, it might actually be the best thing moving forward for Microsoft in the eventual acquisition, as they could relaunch the League fresh from the start with lessons learned from the first five years.

As of the date this article is being published, no formal decision has been announced by any of the teams.

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