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Michael Funari

Professor Malcolm Campbell

UWRT 1104

4/5/18

Overwatch League: the Start of the Mainstream Esport

Watching professional sports is a hobby many people partake in. Most fans have a

favorite team and player that they follow. However, for a sports league such as the NBA or the

NFL to succeed it will need more than just dedicated fans it needs an infrastructure and investor

to support the league. While the sports organizations that were previously listed are based around

traditional sports that almost everyone is familiar with, what if one day esports leagues were as

mainstream as traditional sports leagues. Hamari Juho and Max Sjöblom of Tampere university

classify esports as “competitive (pro and amateur) video gaming that is often coordinated by

different leagues, ladders and tournaments, and where players customarily belong to teams or

other “sporting” organizations which are sponsored by various business organizations” (Juho). A

particular esports league that has the potential to be mainstream and comparable to other

professional sports leagues would be the Overwatch League.

Overwatch is a multiplayer game that was released by Blizzard entertainment in 2016. It

is a 12-player team based first person shooter. The Overwatch League is an esports league put

together by Blizzard entertainment, and it is currently in the middle of its very first season. (The

Overwatch League). This paper will be exploring the idea that the Overwatch League is the first

esport that could push esports into the mainstream. I will be exploring this idea by comparing the

Overwatch League to other professional sports leagues, analyzing why people would be
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interested in esports, and explaining why many celebrities and businessmen are investing in

Overwatch League teams.

You may be asking what is the difference between the Overwatch League and already

established esports leagues, and what makes the Overwatch League so special? According to an

article by The Daily Reflector the difference is that Blizzard entertainment are trying to make the

Overwatch League as big as traditional sports leagues such as the NFL or NBA. They are

planning on doing this by making the teams city based with their own colors, logo and eventually

stadium. No other esports league has attempted to make city-based teams with each having their

own stadium (Beacham). Currently the Overwatch league is in the middle of it’s first season. The

seasons are made up of five stages each with a final at the end. Each stage has prize pool of

$125,000 with $100,000 going to first place and $25,000 going to second place. Then after all

the stages are complete there is a championship playoff with a prize pool of $1,700,000 with the

winner taking home $1,000,000 (The Overwatch League).

Yes, the idea of a videogame being as popular as a more traditional sport, such as football

or basketball, may seem farfetched. However, research shows that the reasons people watch

traditional sports are very similar to the reasons why people watch esports. Hamari Juho and

Max Sjöblom of Tampere university in Finland put together a study about the reasons why

people would watch esports as compared to professional sports. First, they put together a list of

reasons as to why people watch sports. The researcher’s reasons include vicarious achievement,

an appreciation of the aesthetic aspect, physical attractiveness of the players, drama, escapism,

acquiring knowledge, appreciation of players skill, social interaction, novelty, and aggressive

behavior associated with competition. The conclusion of the research is that all these aspects can

be found in almost any kind of sport, esports included. This research reinforces the idea that
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maybe some time in the near future esports could be more widely accepted as a source of

entertainment.

Any good professional sport needs star players that fans can follow. So, could Overwatch

League players really be as marketable and well known as Michael Jordan or Ronaldo. Well

Blizzard entertainment has taken some measures to ensure that their players can be stars. For

starters each player must be guaranteed at least $50,000 a year by there team. While it has been

revealed that the average yearly earning for an Overwatch League player is $120,000 there are

some players that are exceptions to that rule. For example, one player who goes by the name

Sinatra received a $150,000 yearly contract to be a part of the San Francisco Shock (Fortson).

These high salaries make spots on teams very sought after and drive competition. The Overwatch

League isn’t the only source of income or exposure for these esports athletes either. Most

professional Overwatch players live stream themselves practicing on Twitch.tv. Twitch.tv is

video streaming service that allows gamers to livestream their gameplay to an audience. Viewers

can interact with the streamer through the chat and even donate money to them if they are a big

fan. While it can be hard to say how much money these players could be making from twitch,

some professional players such as A_Seagull have around 10,000 concurrent viewers at a time

while they stream (Beacham). All things considered I think it is safe to say most Overwatch

League pros are pretty well off in terms of money and are also able to form a strong fanbase

through their Twitch streams and online presence. You could say that eventually there might not

be much separating sports stars from esports stars in terms of fame and wealth.

In order to form a team in the Overwatch League Blizzard requires a 20 million dollar

buy in from the team owner. You may be asking who would value an esports team at such a

ridiculous price. Well you would be surprised. Many well-known celebrities have invested in
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Overwatch League teams such as owner of the Arsenal soccer team and the Denver Nuggets Stan

Kroenke. Stan formed the LA Gladiators Overwatch league team in November of 2017. Even

Shaquille O’Neil and Jenifer Lopez are co-owners of the San Francisco Shock. Currently there

are twelve teams across the globe that have been formed for season one of the Overwatch

League. That is over 250 million dollars’ worth of buy ins. But how could these celebrities see

this as a wise investment? Well Jack Ettienne, owner of the London Spitfire, was asked that same

question, he said “Millennials don't differentiate between esports and traditional sports in the

way my generation would" (Fortson). Jack makes a good point he and many other investors are

aware of the interest that young adults and teens are showing towards the esports scene, and they

are capitalizing on this interest with their investments.

The website Twitch.tv paid blizzard 90 million dollars for the exclusive right to be the

host of Overwatch League games. On the opening day of the Overwatch league this investment

paid off. James Dator of SBNation,com reported that there was a peak viewership of 437,000

concurrent viewers and 10 million unique viewers that night. Compared to Thursday night

football, which was happening at the same time, the Overwatch League had greater viewership in

terms of streaming. The NFL only had a peak viewership of 372,000 on Amazon and 243,000 on

Twitter (Dator). While this obviously excludes television views and Thursday is the NFL’s worst

night in terms of viewership, this is still quite an impressive feat for an esport. Keep in mind that

this is Overwatch’s inaugural season and down the line these numbers could go up when more

teams are introduced in subsequent seasons.

While the Overwatch League may seem successful so far there is the possibility that this

could all be a flash in the pan. While Overwatch does have 30 million registered players there is

no guarantee that these players are going to translate to viewers of the Overwatch League
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(Beacham). There is always the possibility that the fanbase could die off and the league could

end in the next couple of years. Currently one of the main problems for the Overwatch league is

that it can be a very hard game to follow for the viewer. Following twelve players at a time can

be difficult. While there are casters and the production of the games is professional viewability is

still a problem especially for viewers who may not play the game. Only time will tell if

Overwatch will continue to be the successful esport that it currently is.

The Overwatch League is a Marvel. It is simply impressive how much trust investors

have in Blizzard for making the League a success. It is a huge deal for many fans of the game as

it is their first introduction to competitive esports. The Overwatch League is a huge deal for

gamers as a whole because, it could be the start of videogames being taken seriously as e-sports.

Being a gamer has always had a negative connotation to it. People often debate that gaming has

countless negative side effects such as increased aggression. The truth of the matter is that

gaming is a hobby that many people cherish and would only like to see grow. The Overwatch

League has the opportunity to prove that competitive gaming is something that people want to

see. Hopefully through Blizzard’s efforts, the interest from investors, and support from the many

fans the Overwatch League will be successful. Or at least show that gaming and professional

esports is something that deserves to be more widely accepted.

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Works Cited

Beacham, Greg. "The future of esports arrives with Overwatch League launch - The Overwatch

League has been launched in an audacious attempt to showcase esports within a

traditional sports structure." The Daily Reflector, 12 Jan. 2018, Local, p. 4. NewsBank,

infoweb.newsbank.com/resources/doc/nb/news/169616DDB2F33A68?

p=WORLDNEWS. Accessed 9 Mar. 2018.

Fortson, Danny. "Tycoons line up to turn teen gaming into a spectator sport." The Sunday Times,

14 Jan. 2018, 01 - eire, News, p. 7. NewsBank,

infoweb.newsbank.com/resources/doc/nb/news/1696E107A3AAD818?

p=WORLDNEWS. Accessed 10 Mar. 2018.

Juho, Hamari and Sjöblom, Max. "What Is Esports and Why Do People Watch It?." Internet

Research, vol. 27, no. 2, Mar. 2017, pp. 211-232. AcademicSearchComplete, www-

emeraldinsight-com.librarylink.uncc.edu/doi/pdfplus/10.1108/IntR-04-2016-0085.

Accessed 10 Mar. 2018.

The Overwatch League, Blizzard Entertainment, overwatchleague.com/en-us/. Accessed 08

March 2018.

Dator, James. “The Overwatch League Claims Higher Ratings than 'Thursday Night Football' ...

but It's Complicated.” SBNation.com, SBNation.com, 18 Jan. 2018,

www.sbnation.com/lookit/2018/1/18/16905420/overwatch-league-ratings-nfl-thursday-

night-football. Accessed 03 April 2018.