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Overwatch League has its issues but should only get stronger with time

Roar Rookie
16th January, 2018
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Brigitte is the new kid on the block in Overwatch. (Wikimedia Commons)
Roar Rookie
16th January, 2018
3

The much-hyped Overwatch League enjoyed an incredibly successful first week, peaking at over 440,000 viewers – but critics had plenty to say about its viability.

There has been plenty to like about the league’s debut. Even the matches which ended in clean sweeps were exciting. The production value, which was through the roof, helped keep those games interesting.

There were no major technical hiccups (save for an unfortunate close-up camera shot of a Pepe the Frog sign) and perhaps most importantly the count of nearly half a million simultaneous viewers would have more than likely exceeded expectations at Blizzard.

Being that this was the opening salvo of Blizzard’s foray into the unknown, those view numbers aren’t likely to get that high again until finals time. What’s brand new is exciting, so it’s only natural that those figures will decrease for a little while.

But the doubters and detractors put forward some reasonable worries which are more pressing than the viewership concerns.

Firstly, one of the most common complaints was that in almost every instance from week one, the team with the most South Korean players won, often by a large margin. It’s no surprise to anyone that Seoul Dynasty and London Spitfire – two teams with rosters comprised entirely of South Koreans – both won both of their opening matches. The New York Excelsior also won both matches with six South Korean players.

Even the most optimistic of fans hoping for a very competitive season between all twelve teams would struggle to put money on any squad other than Seoul or London winning the inaugural season.

However, those who criticised this particular aspect are missing the trick. While Seoul did win their opening match against the well-regarded Dallas Fuel outfit, they were kept to a 2-1 scoreline with some incredibly close maps fought between the two teams.

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Neither were the Spitfire invincible – they dropped their first map of the season to one of the league’s weakest teams, the Florida Mayhem.

The less immediate and more important counterpoint to that this complaint is that said criticism is based on four days’ worth of competition. Balance takes time.

In Formula One, for example, when a new rule set is introduced, one team tends to come out far ahead of the others before the margins get closer over time.

This is a feature of a number of other sports and now that every team will play each other four or five times a season, the gap between these South Korean powerhouses and the rest will naturally begin to close.

Time is perhaps the bigger issue for the Overwatch League. Many are worried about whether the fast-paced and chaotic nature of Overwatch itself might make it difficult to attract fans who are not already players of the game.

Some consider the issue to be even wider: that first-person shooters do not lend themselves well to eSports. This is Blizzard’s biggest challenge when it comes to the Overwatch League.

As a player, I understood what was happening when I watched the games during week one. I’d be concerned if over 500 hours of playing time meant that I couldn’t follow the action, but that wasn’t the case. And stepping back from my own experience, I saw potential in the debut week.

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Overwatch has perhaps the best chance of any shooter to make it as an eSport. First and foremost, it’s fun. The characters are immediately likeable, there are a wide variety of strategies and individual plays which can change games in a heartbeat and it’s bright and colourful.

What Blizzard are putting into that mix is just beginning to show. They’ve started strongly with great production value, which make the concept of a league exciting.

In the last six months Blizzard have worked hard to improve the spectator experience: an AI-controlled cameraman which follows the most important action at any given time, a top-down map which gives perspective to the game and team skins and colours which have simplified and improved the viewing experience dramatically even from the end of Apex Season 4, which was only three months ago.

Overwatch character D.Va, wearing the colours of the Seoul Dynasty Overwatch League eSports team.

(Image: Blizzard Entertaiment)

If Blizzard has done all that in a matter of months, it would be silly to assume they consider themselves done and dusted and are 100% happy with the current spectator experience. It’s much more likely is that this first season will be one where kinks are ironed out, observations are made and new tools tested which will only make the game better to watch.

There certainly are challenges to the long-term future of Overwatch as an eSport, and it’s good that commentators have recognised and reported on these issues. They deserve to be discussed.

Blizzard, though, has shown more than enough to earn them a certain level of trust that they will work hard at making Overwatch League better with every passing match, and it wouldn’t surprise me if in five years’ time the Overwatch League is one of eSports’ greatest success stories.

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