The long awaited Overwatch Contenders tournament is finally starting Season One on August 14. Season zero, which technically was the first season, ended with eUnited and Immortals taking the crown. On stream, Blizzard announced that the second six-week event will include 16 teams from North America and Europe competing for a chance to win their region’s title. The games will be streamed live, a strong improvement over Season Zero which rebroadcast the tournament with commentary.
Looking at the brackets, you’ll see tons of familiar esports franchises like Team Liquid, Renegades and Faze Clan. These teams all managed to pull a roster together, compete in the open qualifiers and end up in the final bracket. Other esports franchises that didn’t make it into the tournament won’t be surviving for much longer. Overwatch teams are dropping like flies – Evil Geniuses disbanded their Overwatch team today after failing to qualify for Season One.
These giants are competing against smaller teams, like Kungarna , that don’t have the same resources or facilities. They also don’t have the same costs, making them easier to manage and run. Teams are investing in the idea that Overwatch esports will be as big as League Of Legends one day, but good faith might not be enough. It’s hard to survive without massive venture capitalists behind your back (I’m looking at you Team Liquid) when there are only a few chances to even compete. One bad game or match might decide between a year-long job or unemployment.
Blizzard has been taking its sweet time establishing a true Overwatch esports league. The Overwatch League was announced at Blizzcon and there’s still almost no information released about it. Blizzard promised a huge MLB style tournament, with players getting paid salaries, and franchised teams and events that would rival the League Of Legends World Championship. Instead, we’ve gotten small events, like the Overwatch World Cup and Contenders that really don’t do the game justice.
The “commissioner” of the league released a blog post stating that top Overwatch players will be put on a special list that team owners can pull from, but nothing outside of that. However, there’s no information about when the tournament might start, what franchises will be participating or even what the rules are. It feels like Blizzard is learning about how to run events as they happen, which can be worrying. I wouldn’t want to invest a ton of money in a team that might not end up being successful or even around when the time for action comes.
It seems like Blizzard wants to test the waters with smaller Overwatch tournaments, eventually moving up to the giant Overwatch League. In a statement to Engadget in May regarding all the team’s disbanding, Blizzard wrote : “our ultimate goal is to create an exciting Overwatch esports ecosystem, the pinnacle of which will be the Overwatch League, that's accessible to a wide audience, sustainable, and rewarding for everyone involved.”
Blizzard has been pushing esports hard in 2017. Hearthstone’s Summer Championship in Shanghai will be one of their largest productions to date. Ben Brode and his gang of Team 5 developers are even announcing the game’s next expansion at the Chinese city, just to make sure as many eyeballs are tuning in as possible. I have no idea what to expect, except that it’s going to be large, chaotic and fun to watch.
Will teams be able to hold it together until the Overwatch League comes out or will everything fall apart? Tell us in the comments.
- Amazing Art Style
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- No Single Player
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