Not so long ago, everything “Overwatch” touched turned to gold. From the video game itself to clothing lines, merchandise, comics… So, the professional league of the game must have been a huge success, right? Well, it depends on your definition of the term. If you mean a “money pit,” then yes. In an extreme way.
Shall we go for another one?
The Overwatch League (briefly, OWL) was launched the year after the game became the sleeper hit of the season. Back in 2017, twelve teams founded it, and each had to pony up $20 million. Each team was based in its own city where, supposedly, they were going to build their own esports stadium (something that never happened). Eight more teams joined later, each paying between $35 to $60 million to be there. The problem is that the money never came in.
Monetizing matches that fans could watch for free was not an easy business, and last year the OWL began to face serious financial problems. Free events, sponsorships, and merchandising agreements that never materialized, and ultimately, the merger of Activision with Blizzard ended up killing the competition, as has been revealed today.
In the end, the few remaining teams have bid farewell in their own way. For example, the Toronto Defiant have said goodbye to this disastrous sinking ship with an AI-generated image that, unintentionally, is full of phallic shapes. The final insult could not have been delivered in any other way.
By the way, this apparently does not mean the end of ‘Overwatch‘ as an esport: in fact, they have tried to spin it as the end of the OWL is the beginning of a championship with a much more traditional structure. As traditional as something our parents would never understand and don’t know how to monetize, that is.
