Overwatch was launched in May 2016,and before year’s end Blizzard announced their plans for an official franchised esports series called Overwatch League (OWL) w to start preseason matches before the end of the following year. This gave roughly 1.5 years for the community to develop organic interest in the game’s competitive scene before licence restrictions would prevent third parties from hosting medium to major events.
While this amount of time is comparable to Riot’s launch of Valorant (and subsequently the introduction of the Valorant Champions Tour), the excitement for Overwatch esports had to be built in a period where the in-game spectator features were incredibly limited and underwhelming. When the OWL matches began at the end of 2017, it very much felt like Blizzard was trying to speedrun any% the construction of a commercial behemoth in an environment that could not support that ambition.
The impressive sales skills of Blizzard executives led to some phenomenal non-endemic brands sponsoring the OWL such as T-Mobile, Coca-Cola, Toyota and more. It also attracted many venture capitalists willing to invest 8-figures into securing a team slot in the competition. However, the journey has been anything but smooth. Following several years of declining viewership and year-on-year budget cuts, it became clear that Overwatch esports wasn’t developing into the titan that the commercial inscriptions indicated it would be. This timeline has led us to the launch of Overwatch 2 this year, a new breath of life that would reignite the spark of OWL.
Total hours watched per hour of broadcasted Overwatch content
The above information has been interpreted from data available on Escharts.
Up until late October, prior to the OWL 2022 Playoffs, the data on the chart is highly concerning. Even though the 2022 season has been played exclusively on versions of Overwatch 2, it wasn’t until the game was launched to the public that any significant rise in viewership was noticeable.
OWL’s 2022 Playoffs have seen the highest concurrent viewership (~400,000) since Stage 1 of the Inaugural Season that was concluded back in February 2018 which peaked at approximately 440,000. The hours watched per hour of broadcasted content is now comparable to the same data for major Dota 2 events (excluding TI’s).
So, how has the new season of OWL reignited viewership?
While this news is good for esports as a whole, for now it’s clear that the planets have aligned. Overwatch 2 released less than a month before the Playoffs, the previous iteration of the game is now offline which has funnelled the entire existing player-base, returning players and new players to the game’s sequel. Excitement is at an all time high, a drop system allowing viewers to redeem in-game cosmetics from watching the stream has been executed and the most prestigious stage of OWL is to be played. Irrespective of the game and publisher, this is already a recipe for success.
To add more credit, the viewership attained has also been achieved while the League of Legends World Championship grand final and the CS:GO Rio Major Legends Stage are both live. For a non-legacy esports title that has been in recent decline, it sounds pretty good.
What does this mean for the future of OWL?
While, on the surface, Overwatch appears to have made a positive resurgence in viewership and engagement during the 2022 Playoffs stage - it’s hard not to feel cynical about the future of the league. Activision Blizzard have capitalised well on the timing of Overwatch 2’s launch, but there have been noticeable commercial struggles. Aside from the issue surrounding current active sponsorships, the topic of further budget constraints and lack of profitability continues to haunt the OWL. Although I don’t expect this to impact the affordability of running the league for the publisher, I do wonder whether there is a large enough fanbase invested in the competition to sustain this level of engagement moving into later seasons.
Esports is notoriously difficult to crack as a developer or publisher, very few games have been able to stand the test of time. The ones that do succeed have demonstrated much more long term consistency in event viewership, boasted strong grassroots competitive scenes in addition to offering an incredible casual gaming experience. My concern at the moment is that Overwatch only satisfies the casual gaming criteria. Intelligent planning and coordination around drop systems, co-streaming and in-game embedded live streams can continue to bolster viewership going forward. However, these factors alone do not sustain long-term community engagement.
Activision Blizzard have created a fascinating case study within esports. I am excited to see which direction OWL will go next, and I am confident that the next season of the league will be a strong indicator as to what the long term future holds for Overwatch esports.
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