Blizzard commits to "revitalized esports program" as players wave OWL goodbye
Oct. 2, 2023Overwatch League seems all but dead, but its esports scene will live on
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As that message suggests, there really aren’t any clear indicators of what comes next for officially sanctioned Overwatch esports. Overwatch League itself is not yet officially dead - at least not according to any Blizzard announcement - but earlier this year, an investor report revealed that OWL teams would soon vote on updated terms with Blizzard. If the teams did not agree, they wouldeach receive a $6 million termination fee.
But even without a final word on whether the teams are taking the money and leaving, for most observers, the writing for Overwatch League’s end seems to be on the wall. If there was any room left to speculate that the league might live, it ended over the weekend whenOverwatch League presenters took to the stage and shared an emotional message after what might have been the competition’s final games.
Overwatch League was always an odd duck, eschewing esports standards for a format more similar to traditional North American sports leagues, where franchised teams compete over the course of a season for position in an annual playoff series.Activision Blizzardrevisited the same format for Call of Duty League.
Overwatch 2has met with quite some skepticism from longtime fans, including amassive pile of negative reviews for its Steam release.
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