Now aspiring players and old teams can get more opportunities in the dynamic world of online gaming as the Overwatch League no longer monopolises the spotlight. The entry of the competing teams will be solely based upon their skills and talent in gaming. Overwatch was an open esports ecosystem published by Activision Blizzards in 2015 that attracted several teams across the globe to compete.
During its beta phase, the game was loved by gaming enthusiasts, and it flourished in the scene as gamers waited for its full release. However, before the game’s inaugural launch, the publisher locked everything behind the franchised system so that they could sell gaming slots quickly. As it slowly came into the market with a slow start in 2018 and 2019, gaming teams started to travel to cities for the competition matches. As the market had just started to gain attention, the world was hit with a pandemic in 2020 that forced the competition to go online.
Earlier in 2019, the publishers announced that they would launch a sequel to the origins game, Overwatch 2, in which only 5v5 players would be allowed. Due to the pandemic and other causes, the launch faced delays, and the public’s interest started to cool down. Despite the lukewarm
What led to Overwatch League’s downfall?
response, the sequel was released in 2022, but by this time, Overwatch League teams were already losing money and couldn’t generate revenue from the competitions. On top of that, there was a sexual harassment scandal in 2021 that led to the withdrawal of the sponsors- State Farm and Coca-Cola.
All these events and challenges resulted in the downfall of the franchise as they faces loss and pressure from the teams to recoup the initial investments.
The ecosystem is currently owned by Blizzard Entertainment and is divided into three circuit regions- North America, Europe, Middle East & North Africa (EMEA), and Asia. All the regions are operated by different administrators with different tournament formats.
Since the Overwatch League ended and the Overwatch Champion Series (OWCS) surged, there has been a wave of excitement among the players who loved the game. Several teams, such as ESL FACEIT, Team Falcons, ENCE, and SpaceStation, are seen participating in the open ecosystem of this esports competition through OWCS. All the aspiring teams can participate in the upcoming competition, the Esports World Cup, through qualifying matches.
The resurgence of the Overwatch Champion Series has opened the doors not only for old teams and aspiring gamers but also for organisations and investors.
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