Can Microsoft save the Overwatch League?

Breaking news everyone, Microsoft has just recently bought out Blizzard and the fans are all roaring the same question: Will they be able to bring back the greatness that was the Overwatch League?

We all know that Blizzard have done a very botched job at keeping their titles in the Esports scene, and although many would disagree with that statement because of Starcraft’s success, let’s just say that one good job doesn’t make every other failure null.

 Whether we’re talking about the fall of Heroes of the Storm or Blizzgate, Blizzard have pretty much dropped the soap by now and we’re sad to see that nobody has been there to help them pick it up as of yet.

As of right now though, since Microsoft has pretty much taken the wheel right now, what’s stopping them from changing up their style and essentially rebooting the Overwatch League while they’re at it?

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Many theorists have even brought up the fact that back in 2016, when Overwatch was at the peak of its success, Blizzard have actively tried to shoot themselves in the leg by putting a ton of restrictions around the Esports scene which is why this Microsoft acquisition may actually be a good thing for now.

The Overwatch League is their most famous competition by a longshot, it is a tournament in which 20 teams come together to duke it out amongst each other at the end of each year and the sad thing is that with every passing year, more and more of its popularity has started to dwindle down.

The reason for this is the restrictions, which are quite cruel and unreasonable to say the least. First off, the organizers of the tournament need to legally be able to create a tournament, meaning they’ll require a license to actually do anything.

Most organizers would opt for a simple Community License, but this one can only be used to schedule a tournament with less than $10,000 USD and less than $1,000 in sponsorships.

So, they are essentially not allowed to make the stakes any bigger, which results in none of the top teams showing up, which again damages the fanbase and removes the potential for a large group of people to be watching.

Although Microsoft has not shown any interest in Esports save for their Halo success story, they have definitely tried their hardest to revive the medium by acquiring Halo Infinite, Call of Duty and Overwatch now which may be an indicator that they’re trying to save this ”dying medium”.

If they can get their hands around Blizzard’s neck and thus remove the hinges that are keeping the organizers from actually starting high stakes tournaments, we can definitely hope to see this game reach new peaks.

But for now, all that we can say is that this recent acquisition made by Microsoft could really help Blizzard and in turn help Overwatch as this is one of their biggest titles as of right now and it would be a real waste to see it all be fumbled around with like that.

Author: Ronnie Neal