The Overwatch League is no more, competitive Overwatch will go in ‘new direction’

Activision Blizzard let go of most of its Overwatch League staff earlier this year, marking a turning point in the company's future esports plans. A few weeks after the company's merger with Microsoft, it has been confirmed that the Overwatch League is shutting down. 

The Overwatch League was dreamt up around the time of the game's release. Blizzard hoped to turn professional Overwatch matches into a widely-viewed event, with franchised teams, home-team arenas and a big yearly playoffs tournament following a regular season to establish seeding. Teams had to pay tens of millions of dollars to get a spot in the league, but it quickly started to become clear that achieving profitability would be no easy feat.

The pandemic certainly had an impact, as the league's in-person, live-audience matches could no longer take place. In a statement sent to PCGamer, Activision Blizzard confirmed that it is now “transitioning” to take competitive Overwatch “in a new direction”.

Overwatch will likely continue to be an esports-focused game but moving forward, it may be more community-focused.

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KitGuru Says: The Overwatch League was an ambitious idea but it didn't pan out. Pivoting seems like the right move at this point after years of decline. 

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