Advertisement

Read about the latest Gaming news and announcements. The official blog of Activision, publishers of Call of Duty, Sekiro, Crash Bandicoot, Skylanders, and more.

The Overwatch League ruled esports. Then everything went wrong

Esports gaming

Enlarge (credit: Sergio Flores/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Since its formation in 2017, the Overwatch League—the professional esports program for Activision Blizzard’s Overwatch hero shooter—has drawn frequent comparisons to traditional sporting institutions. Its stated aim, as WIRED put it in a 2017 feature, was to become the new US National Football League.

The two institutions certainly overlapped: The Overwatch League was the first major esports league to franchise local teams in major cities, and it features live spectator events with hometown crowds and salaried athletes. The goal was to offer esports fans a more traditional sports model, where they could go to a local arena or venue, see their hometown team play against an “away” team, and cheer during the event. The model offered local pop-up stores, team merchandise, ticket sales, media rights, and licensing.

Read 18 remaining paragraphs | Comments



from Gaming & Culture – Ars Technica https://ift.tt/NTZhRSd

Recent Posts

Unordered List

Text Widget

Blog Archive

Like US On Facebook

Email Subscriptions

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Like US On Facebook

Contact Form

Name

Email *

Message *