{"id":33077,"date":"2023-11-08T23:16:57","date_gmt":"2023-11-09T04:16:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esportbet.com\/?p=33077"},"modified":"2023-11-08T23:16:57","modified_gmt":"2023-11-09T04:16:57","slug":"blizzard-announce-change-of-direction-for-its-overwatch-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esportbet.com\/blizzard-announce-change-of-direction-for-its-overwatch-league\/","title":{"rendered":"Blizzard announce change of direction for its Overwatch League"},"content":{"rendered":"

It looks like the Overwatch League (OWL)<\/a> is taking a different route after six years of competitive action.<\/p>\n

Blizzard has confirmed that they’re saying goodbye to the current setup and planning something new.<\/p>\n

The recent departure of teams like the Toronto Defiant added to the uncertainty, but now it’s official\u2014the OWL, as we know it, is coming to an end.<\/p>\n

The transition is not without its drama.<\/p>\n

Blizzard sent out a revised operating agreement to teams, and those who didn’t want to continue got a $6 million parting gift.<\/p>\n

This move follows a series of challenges the league faced, from the pandemic disrupting plans for city-based teams to difficulties in making money from online matches.<\/p>\n

The financial struggles came to light with Bloomberg reporting a shortfall in projected revenue in 2020, a tough pill for a league that started with such grand ambitions and hefty franchise fees.<\/p>\n

Now, it seems Activision Blizzard is in talks with the Saudi Arabian ESL FACEIT Group for a new chapter in Overwatch<\/a> esports.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are transitioning from the Overwatch League and evolving competitive Overwatch in a new direction,” an Overwatch League spokesman confirmed.<\/p>\n

“We are grateful to everyone who made OWL possible and remain focused on building our vision of a revitalized esports program. <\/p>\n

“We are excited to share details with you all in the near future.\u201d<\/p>\n

The plan is to adopt a more open-circuit format, ditching the franchise system in favour of a more flexible tournament schedule.<\/p>\n

It’s a big shift, but maybe it’s what Overwatch needs to thrive.<\/p>\n

As fans brace themselves for more teams to reveal their exit plans, one thing’s for sure: the Overwatch League won’t be the same.<\/p>\n

It’s the end of an era, and people are already reminiscing about the good times and lamenting the missed opportunities.<\/p>\n

More esports news<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Blizzard has confirmed that the Overwatch League will cease, as the company is in talks with the Saudi Arabian ESL FACEIT group.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":21874,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ghostkit_customizer_options":"","ghostkit_custom_css":"","ghostkit_custom_js_head":"","ghostkit_custom_js_foot":"","ghostkit_typography":"","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[30,31,85],"class_list":["post-33077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-blizzard","tag-overwatch","tag-overwatch-league"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esportbet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33077"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esportbet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esportbet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esportbet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esportbet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33077"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/esportbet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33079,"href":"https:\/\/esportbet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33077\/revisions\/33079"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esportbet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esportbet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esportbet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esportbet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}