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OWL raised over $100M and tried to blitz scale a sport into popular culture. In their hubris they made a long list of mistakes certainly including the ones you

by tmpz22 4y ago

OWL raised over $100M and tried to blitz scale a sport into popular culture. In their hubris they made a long list of mistakes certainly including the ones you mention. To me the dumbest thing they did was legally kill community tournaments that made Competitive overwatch a thing in the first place. If they had kept a strong T2 league it could’ve done much more then cultivate talent for the pro league, they could’ve iterated and experimented on formats with the clear winning ideas being used by OWL FOR FREE. Bunch of dummies who probably cashed out fantastically on their individual comp. - former impassioned fan

skippyboxedhero 4y ago
The reason why the community tournaments were so popular was the authenticity. I think people remember some of those moments more than anything that happened in OWL because they were real. And I could have forgiven it, if anyone made money...I don't think anyone has made money out of OWL. The fact they raised $100m was the first sign they were about to incinerate it all. Maybe it can't ever recover but I think the game could have been more popular than LoL in the West. It had such a broad base of users (the only FPS-style game that had women) but they couldn't manage the game, couldn't manage the league, just total failure at every level (and they took years to develop OW2, which is basically a reskin of the original...embarrassing).
jdgoesmarching 4y ago
I loved Overwatch for a time and always thought it made for a poor esport in terms of watchability. Fast-paced MOBAs might work if your game is top down, but trying to follow 12 different heroes in a FPS popping a cluster of giant ult animations is impossible.
- JohnBooty 4y ago
  but trying to follow 12 different heroes in a FPS popping a cluster of giant ult animations is impossible. I (very casually) played a lot of FPS back in the day: Quake 1/2/3, Tribes 1/2, TF2, etc. I watched some Overwatch matches on TV and found it... extremely hard to follow. 1. Watching other people play from a first-person perspective is rough. They need to figure out better camera angles or something. I don't know the exact answer there. Also needed, perhaps, replays of key moments? Even more so than traditional sports, esports is so "blink and you missed it" 2. I've never played Overwatch specifically, so I didn't know the maps at all. The broadcasts really need to address this somehow unless they only want to appeal to people that already know the maps. Give me some kind of.... map overlay so I know where the heck the action is happening, relative to the goals on the map. 3. The announcers were unlistenable. They just sounded like fans. "OH!!!!!! GAMERDUDE123 WITH THE KILL!!!!! OOOOOOHHHHH!!!!!" Broadcasting traditional sports is extremely hard, and esports doubly so, so I realize how difficult a task it is. But my god. Unlistenable. This was a few years ao, maybe it's better now. But it was basically a nightmare to me.
  - jasonlotito 4y ago
    I watched OW as well. I attended the first two championship matches as well. 1. I never had an issue keeping up. I would have loved more perspectives (the Twitch option had multiple ways to watch) and I think if they'd kept up with that, it would have been even better, but the default view was pretty solid. 2. Map/Objectives overviews were frequently done, especially in the early days. In fact, it was almost a joke "Of course we know how it's played!" 3. I'm sorry, but I can't believe you were watching the same streams. They were clear with the callouts of events happening and what was going on. For a game that is so fast-paced, they did an excellent job of keeping you aware of what was happening. Suggesting that was just "OOOHHH!!! Feed kill! OHHHH!" is not accurate in the slightest. I think the issue might be this: " watched some Overwatch matches on TV " I never watched the matches on TV. I always watched it via Twitch or YouTube. Maybe the TV matches were highly edited in some way that didn't translate well. I don't know. What I do know is that what you describe and what I saw were completely different.
    - JohnBooty 4y ago
      Yeah, this was some... Overwatch league thing on the local sports channel on cable. I admit that I didn't spend a ton of time watching it. Just a few minutes here and there, whenever I saw it on. It definitely sounds like it was quite different from what you were watching. Maybe it was just me, I don't know. I will certainly say that broadcasting esports just seems insanely hard.
  - bentcorner 4y ago
    I think you bring fair criticisms but it's a tough thing to cater a broadcast to audiences that may not have any idea what the game is even about and also an audience that knows the game intimately. Football (both american and european) and baseball show well I think because the game is on the surface simple. People are also usually exposed to it during school. The rules can get complex and rare rules (please do not do a balk) sometimes involve game downtime and the broadcast can use the opportunity to show replays and explain rules. Video games have a harder time of this just due to the media. I know a lot about Overwatch, but when I watch LoL broadcasts they're similarly unwatchable, I have no idea what's going on.
- Workaccount2 4y ago
  I vote counter strike as the most watchable e-sport by far. You can explain 95% of the game to someone in 15 minutes. No special moves or hidden abilities. Shoot guns, plant/defuse bomb, that's it. OTOH I think MOBA's are the absolute worst. Unless you know the game well, its takes waayyy to much to learn who is doing what and what they can do if needed.
  - jdgoesmarching 4y ago
    I’d give that honor to Rocket League. Soccer, but more ridiculously/amazingly American.

by tmpz22 4y ago

skippyboxedhero 4y ago

The reason why the community tournaments were so popular was the authenticity. I think people remember some of those moments more than anything that happened in OWL because they were real. And I could have forgiven it, if anyone made money...I don't think anyone has made money out of OWL. The fact they raised $100m was the first sign they were about to incinerate it all. Maybe it can't ever recover but I think the game could have been more popular than LoL in the West. It had such a broad base of users (the only FPS-style game that had women) but they couldn't manage the game, couldn't manage the league, just total failure at every level (and they took years to develop OW2, which is basically a reskin of the original...embarrassing).

jdgoesmarching 4y ago

I loved Overwatch for a time and always thought it made for a poor esport in terms of watchability. Fast-paced MOBAs might work if your game is top down, but trying to follow 12 different heroes in a FPS popping a cluster of giant ult animations is impossible.

JohnBooty 4y ago
but trying to follow 12 different heroes in a FPS popping a cluster of giant ult animations is impossible. I (very casually) played a lot of FPS back in the day: Quake 1/2/3, Tribes 1/2, TF2, etc. I watched some Overwatch matches on TV and found it... extremely hard to follow. 1. Watching other people play from a first-person perspective is rough. They need to figure out better camera angles or something. I don't know the exact answer there. Also needed, perhaps, replays of key moments? Even more so than traditional sports, esports is so "blink and you missed it" 2. I've never played Overwatch specifically, so I didn't know the maps at all. The broadcasts really need to address this somehow unless they only want to appeal to people that already know the maps. Give me some kind of.... map overlay so I know where the heck the action is happening, relative to the goals on the map. 3. The announcers were unlistenable. They just sounded like fans. "OH!!!!!! GAMERDUDE123 WITH THE KILL!!!!! OOOOOOHHHHH!!!!!" Broadcasting traditional sports is extremely hard, and esports doubly so, so I realize how difficult a task it is. But my god. Unlistenable. This was a few years ao, maybe it's better now. But it was basically a nightmare to me.
- jasonlotito 4y ago
  I watched OW as well. I attended the first two championship matches as well. 1. I never had an issue keeping up. I would have loved more perspectives (the Twitch option had multiple ways to watch) and I think if they'd kept up with that, it would have been even better, but the default view was pretty solid. 2. Map/Objectives overviews were frequently done, especially in the early days. In fact, it was almost a joke "Of course we know how it's played!" 3. I'm sorry, but I can't believe you were watching the same streams. They were clear with the callouts of events happening and what was going on. For a game that is so fast-paced, they did an excellent job of keeping you aware of what was happening. Suggesting that was just "OOOHHH!!! Feed kill! OHHHH!" is not accurate in the slightest. I think the issue might be this: " watched some Overwatch matches on TV " I never watched the matches on TV. I always watched it via Twitch or YouTube. Maybe the TV matches were highly edited in some way that didn't translate well. I don't know. What I do know is that what you describe and what I saw were completely different.
  - JohnBooty 4y ago
    Yeah, this was some... Overwatch league thing on the local sports channel on cable. I admit that I didn't spend a ton of time watching it. Just a few minutes here and there, whenever I saw it on. It definitely sounds like it was quite different from what you were watching. Maybe it was just me, I don't know. I will certainly say that broadcasting esports just seems insanely hard.
- bentcorner 4y ago
  I think you bring fair criticisms but it's a tough thing to cater a broadcast to audiences that may not have any idea what the game is even about and also an audience that knows the game intimately. Football (both american and european) and baseball show well I think because the game is on the surface simple. People are also usually exposed to it during school. The rules can get complex and rare rules (please do not do a balk) sometimes involve game downtime and the broadcast can use the opportunity to show replays and explain rules. Video games have a harder time of this just due to the media. I know a lot about Overwatch, but when I watch LoL broadcasts they're similarly unwatchable, I have no idea what's going on.
Workaccount2 4y ago
I vote counter strike as the most watchable e-sport by far. You can explain 95% of the game to someone in 15 minutes. No special moves or hidden abilities. Shoot guns, plant/defuse bomb, that's it. OTOH I think MOBA's are the absolute worst. Unless you know the game well, its takes waayyy to much to learn who is doing what and what they can do if needed.
- jdgoesmarching 4y ago
  I’d give that honor to Rocket League. Soccer, but more ridiculously/amazingly American.