Overwatch continues to go from strength to strength. After reaching its 20 million player milestone earlier this month, players of the critically acclaimed shooter still have professional leagues to look forward to in the near future.
Overwatch is made for professional play. Anyone that’s played only a few hours of the game should be able to see that. Its superb blend of team-based play and gameplay variety make it an endlessly enjoyable game to watch.
For that reason, it’s any wonder why we haven’t already seen the jump into the professional circuit. Overwatch competitive play has now had two very successful seasons, even if the first season was riddled with design inconsistencies. Thankfully, developer Blizzard has a knack for listening to the community, and a lot of the issues were ironed out for season 2.
The next objective is to bring the game into that professional arena, with esports hot on the radar for the folks over at Activison-Blizzard.
Activision-Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick spoke with CNBC to talk about the company’s entry in esports, and he acknowledged that some of the bigger tournaments have larger viewership than the NBA and NFL. That’s something Kotick wants to capitalise on.
“What we’re doing is creating professional content. So we’re organizing around teams and leagues,” Kotick said. He explained that there will be an “Overwatch League”, which will have a number of teams.
“Those teams will be a combination of professional sports teams as owners and endemic sports teams as owners,” he explained.
Here’s hoping we see Overwatch get the esports treatment sooner rather than later!
