![]() ![]() But it’s a shame to see the league itself taking a step back, in the view of some, so that YouTube can take a step forward, particularly when it seems these issues could have been avoided had the deal been closed earlier in the off-season. Ryan Wyatt, head of YouTube Gaming, told Kotaku that YouTube is “focused at the moment on introducing the league to the YouTube audience,” and that might prove to be the right move in the long run, as their audience is vast. While it’s clear these features will return, in some way, at some time, the already extant community that has spent two years galvanizing around the Overwatch League can’t help but feel that their experience has been negatively impacted by this change. This is all a product of the lack of lead time, with the exclusive licensing deal appearing to have officially gone through only weeks before the introduction of the 2020 season. ![]() ![]() This was a popular addition to the viewing experience, and YouTube provides no comparable feature. Included as a part of the 2019 All-Access Pass for $14.99, this platform allowed viewers to watch OWL matches from new perspectives, choosing between any player’s POV view of the action. One of the other perks available on Twitch was the Overwatch Command Center. The exclusive deal with YouTube, however, was made only weeks before the beginning of the league’s 2020 season, and while Activision Blizzard CEO of esports Pete Vlastelica confirmed that in-game rewards for viewership were in the works, the fact that there isn’t an immediate replacement for the system that was in place on Twitch makes the audience feel as if the feature has been taken away, that the move to YouTube has already negatively impacted the viewership experience. It also made it the only major league in all sports, not just esports, to see an increase in audience amongst viewers between 18 and 34. Those tokens could then be used to purchase skins in the actual Overwatch game, rewards that were highly sought after, and which helped to make that, the second official season so successful, averaging 1.12 million viewers per game, which was a 16% increase over the previous year. The 2019 season introduced ‘League Tokens,’ which were earned at the rate of three for every hour of OWL matches watched on Twitch. Tokens? You Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Tokens.Ĭonnectivity between the esports viewership experience and the actual game in which it’s played has long been a pivotal part of Overwatch’s success. But, money aside, was this the best move for the competitive organizations themselves and their communities? It’s still early, but there are a few reasons to suspect that this agreement might have been undertaken at the worst possible time. Now, with word coming that Google payed Activision Blizzard a reported $160 million for the right to host its esports events, we have a better understanding of the value that the latter placed on its esports content. Twitch is as big as it’s ever been, but that doesn’t mean its competitiors haven’t been picking up steam, with more than a handful major creators jumping ship to sign exclusive deals with Mixer, Facebook Gaming, and of course YouTube themselves, and this latest salvo in that ongoing battle was seen by many as just the latest positive step in the latter platform’s continued attempts to segue its dominance in the produced-video space into the world of livestreaming. Just one month ago, the esports and streaming landscapes saw another major shift, as YouTube became the exclusive streaming partner of Activision Blizzard’s official Overwatch League, the brand new Call of Duty League, and Hearthstone esports. Overwatch, Call of Duty, and Hearthstone bring esports exclusively to YouTube, but the way it all went down could do some real damage. ![]()
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