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What? The disconnect between the Overwatch League hero pools and the online ladder hero pools is making it difficult for the players to practice? Fine, we'll combine them so hero pools are universal! Wait, teams still aren't diversifying their strategies and are continuing to just be a gigantic hivemind? Hero pools! That will drive teams into developing their own identities and compositions. Oh, the triple-tank, triple-support meta and the lack of exciting damage dealers are hurting the product, let's enforce two of each class at all times. There is a definite hardcore fanbase of Overwatch, similar to other competitive Blizzard titles like Heroes of the Storm and Starcraft, but it feels as if the higher-ups are constantly playing whack-a-mole with the league to try and find the root of what has caused its growth to stagnate. I understand the current global pandemic has hurt the Overwatch League with the cancellations of homestands that seemed to be working in the early days, but it goes beyond that. Tyler Erzberger: It feels disjointed with little consistency.
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I don't think OWL will wither away and die, but I also don't think it will flourish under these conditions. The online format hurt a bit, but that hurts every league. I think by now it is seen as an established league that people might check in on every now and then, but it won't be watched regularly by anyone other than the core. Putting everything else aside (the upcoming launch of VALORANT, in particular), when your MVP of last season announces midseason that he's jumping ship for a game that hasn't been released yet? Yeah, you have a major problem.Īrda Ocal: It has a passionate core audience that is invested in the league, but lapsed and casual fans are looking elsewhere for their entertainment. Currently, a number of broadcast team members, casters and players are leaving the league or were released from the league before the season began. Additionally, many of these fans were denigrated by other members of the league or team fan bases. It's particularly interesting that a lot of fans are not only fans of specific teams but also fans of the league itself - which was never really leveraged properly in marketing and merchandising. Right now, what is the state of the Overwatch League?Įmily Rand: The Overwatch League has a really fervent and passionate fan base but struggles to leverage an audience large enough to justify franchise price points. Is the league really in trouble? Will Overwatch 2 rejuvenate the scene? Our writers sat down to hash things out. Combine that with an exodus of Tier 2 teams from the scene, and it's a concerning time for fans of Overwatch and the Overwatch League. It's unusual for someone of his stature to retire in the middle of the season, but the fact he immediately signed with a team in VALORANT - a game that isn't even released yet and has no existing esports structure - is unprecedented. On top of that, the league received shocking news this week when Jay "sinatraa" Won, the reigning MVP and star DPS player for the San Francisco Shock, announced his retirement. The league resumed play online, with a new hero-pool system providing a changing meta each week, but the constant schedule changes led to many rematches, and a number of teams still have played only a few games. Its plan to thrill fans and generate hype by instituting a homestand system was a bold one, and early homestands were exciting and successful, but the coronavirus pandemic threw a wrench into things almost immediately, with homestands in Asia being postponed in the first few weeks and all homestands eventually canceled. It's been a strange year for all esports, but no esport has experienced more disruption than the Overwatch League. The state of the Overwatch League in 2020
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