The Overwatch League will cease to exist as we know it. This was confirmed by Blizzard via a statement it released this morning. The esports event has gone through several difficulties during the last months and, due to this, the company decided to leave it behind to look for new alternatives for its competitive scene.
Since the end of Season 2023, Blizzard announced a process to define the future of the league. Teams had to vote to stay or leave the league. According to various reports, most of the squads decided to leave the project, so the Overwatch League simply cannot continue.
The Overwatch League's days are numbered
In its statement, Blizzard thanked the entire community for making the Overwatch League possible over the past 6 years. It made it clear that its goal is not to withdraw from the competitive scene, as it will do its best to boost the competitions of its team-based shooter, but from a new perspective.
"We are transitioning from the Overwatch League and evolving competitive Overwatch in a new direction. We are grateful to everyone who made OWL possible and remain focused on building our vision of a revitalized esports program. We are excited to share details with you all in the near future," the studio stated.
Because the teams decided not to remain in the league, the company will be required to pay a termination fee of $6 MDD per squad. So the payment would be approximately $114 to $120 MDD. Various reports claim that the payment will actually be made by Microsoft, the new owner of the league and the studio.
What went wrong with the Overwatch League?
The Overwatch League was born in 2016 as an ambitious project that sought to take esports and competitive leagues to a new level. All this taking advantage of the tremendous success of the first installment of the team-based shooter.
The league suffered several blows throughout its history, starting with criticism for its high initial fees. Subsequently, several controversies arose that also affected the league's image. Mainly we refer to the harassment and discrimination scandals within Activision Blizzard, which cost the event important sponsors.
Subsequently, the situation became more complicated with the pandemic, as the league had to restructure and change its format due to the impossibility of holding live events with spectators. Blizzard also experienced a crisis in China after its conflict with NetEase, which may also have affected its esports circuit.
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