{"id":1201038,"date":"2023-11-08T16:00:54","date_gmt":"2023-11-08T21:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1201038"},"modified":"2023-11-08T16:00:54","modified_gmt":"2023-11-08T21:00:54","slug":"the-overwatch-league-appears-to-be-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1201038","title":{"rendered":"The Overwatch League appears to be over"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Overwatch League<\/ins><\/a> (OWL) appears to be no more after six seasons. A Blizzard spokesperson told Engadget that “We are transitioning from the Overwatch League and evolving competitive Overwatch in a new direction.” That’s not to say the publisher is pulling out of Overwatch <\/em>esports altogether. “We are grateful to everyone who made OWL possible and remain focused on building our vision of a revitalized esports program,” the statement read. “We are excited to share details with you all in the near future.”<\/p>\n

In July, Activision Blizzard laid off around 50 esports staff<\/ins><\/a> and revealed that, after the 2023 season, OWL team owners would hold a vote to determine whether they’d continue with the league. Activision Blizzard said<\/ins><\/a> that if teams opted out, it would pay each of them a termination fee of $6 million. Blizzard has not said whether the vote has taken place and, if so, what the results were.<\/p>\n

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However, earlier on Wednesday, the owner of OWL team Toronto Defiant confirmed<\/ins><\/a> it was leaving the league. OverActive Media said it had ended its team participation agreement, and that it would receive a $6 million termination payment from Activision Blizzard. The company plans to stay involved in Overwatch esports.<\/p>\n

“As we transition into the next phase of Overwatch esports, we look forward to the opportunities that lie ahead,” Adam Adamou, cofounder and CEO of OverActive Media, said in a statement. “We are eager to share more about our vision for Toronto Defiant and our plans to return to Overwatch esports. We expect more information to come on this front soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

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OAM has confirmed its exit from the @overwatchleague<\/a>. The Company is set for its next chapter with a strengthened financial position and continued commitment to esports. We expect more information to come re: our vision for @TorontoDefiant<\/a> and our plans to return to Overwatch\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2014 OverActive (@overactivegg) November 8, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

The Defiant are the second team to leave OWL. The Chengdu Hunters did not participate in the 2023 season after Overwatch 2 <\/ins><\/em>and other Blizzard games were shut down in China<\/ins><\/a>. The team confirmed<\/ins><\/a> partway through the year that it was departing from OWL.<\/p>\n

Several other teams have been releasing players and others have suspended operations entirely<\/ins><\/a> amid OWL’s uncertain future. All of the Florida Mayhem’s players and staff went into free agency just 19 days<\/ins><\/a> after winning<\/ins><\/a> the 2023 OWL championship. On October 2, the day after the Grand Finals, Blizzard said<\/ins><\/a> it was “focusing on building our vision of a revitalized esports program.”<\/p>\n

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pic.twitter.com\/PoV2NaI5fg<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Overwatch League (@overwatchleague) October 2, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

The writing has been on the wall for OWL for some time as the original vision of a global home-and-away league format never panned out. The first two seasons of OWL matches were held almost exclusively<\/ins><\/a> in a studio in California. Weeks after Blizzard started on its grand plan to run matches in each team’s city every week<\/ins><\/a>, it was forced to shift to an online-only format<\/ins><\/a> due to COVID-19 lockdowns. That prevented teams from pulling in much-sought-after live event revenue.<\/p>\n

Viewership struggles<\/ins><\/a>, sponsors dropping out<\/ins><\/a> and the sexual harassment and discrimination scandal<\/ins><\/a> at Activision Blizzard may have played a factor in OWL’s demise as well. Although OWL broadcasts and matches were polished and entertaining, there were just too many factors playing against it.<\/p>\n

The future of the professional Overwatch scene is unclear, but reports suggest<\/ins><\/a> that a return to a more open format could be next. According to esports reporter Jacob Wolf, Activision Blizzard has been in talks with Saudi Arabian state-owned ESL FACEIT Group for the latter to run the 2024 pro Overwatch <\/em>season. In the meantime, a Blizzard-backed Overwatch 2<\/em> tournament that features regional prize pools of $50,000 and veteran OWL players<\/a> is getting underway<\/a> this weekend.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https:\/\/www.engadget.com\/the-overwatch-league-appears-to-be-over-210054506.html?src=rss
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\nSource: Engadget – The Overwatch League appears to be over<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Overwatch League (OWL) appears to be no more after six seasons. A Blizzard spokesperson told Engadget that “We are transitioning from the Overwatch League and evolving competitive Overwatch in a new direction.” That’s not to say the publisher is … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99,110],"tags":[98],"class_list":["post-1201038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-engadget","category-unfiltered-rss","tag-engadget"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1201038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1201038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1201038\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1201038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1201038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1201038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}