It’s no surprise that some games are just doing better than Overwatch right now. With major sporting events across all spectrums cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, it seems that the Overwatch League in particular has been hit the hardest of all the major Esports.

For the most part, sports organizers have gone fully online this year in an attempt to further ignite passion among fans and players around the world. However, the Overwatch League has struggled to maintain audience interest as some pro players have made the jump to the now up-and-coming FPS Valorant.

Stress

The Overwatch League was in full swing for a fantastic home series in both North America, Europe, and Asia. What became apparent rather quickly, however: These leagues would not continue due to the coronavirus pandemic, which saw several major sporting events cancelled simultaneously.

It could be argued that of all the major Esports, Overwatch maker Blizzard was the slowest to react to the changes, adapting to formats that other major Esports events had already set in motion. One big factor players and coaches were trying to cope with, in addition to the coronavirus pandemic, was the introduction of hero pools, which aimed to ban a certain number of heroes each week to keep the meta fresh and in constant flux.

“I understand what Blizzard was getting at. I understand the fans’ perspective. But talking about my perspective is hell,” said head coach of Flordia Mayhem Kim Kuki Dae-Kuk
We reported on the overwhelming response from players, coaches and fans who said the Hero Pools should have been better managed.

The corona virus meant a new schedule every week. As a result, only as many matches were played as teams were available and the Overwatch League lost steam dramatically.

Retire

With the constant changes, unforeseen event cancellations, and stress on players and coaches, it’s no wonder that talent is either dropping out of Overwatch competition or turning to a different game altogether. the most famous example is Jay “sinatraa” Won, the DPS for San Francisco Shock, who formally announced his retirement and talked about several issues in his tweet.

“Straight up I just lost passion for the game. idk what the real killer was for me, maybe it was the 2-2-2 lockout, maybe it was bans, I’m not sure…. I just know it was hard for me to log in to play and I didn’t enjoy scrims at all anymore, etc,” sinatraa explained.
This was followed by a simple reply to his own tweet announcing his departure to Valorant, a game that hasn’t even been officially released yet, let alone has an Esports structure.

When an incredibly talented DPS player and MVP winner moves to a game that hasn’t even been released yet, you get the impression that the Overwatch League might have some issues, to say the least. His departure isn’t the only one, as many notable broadcast and casting talents are leaving, citing numerous conflicts of interest and directorial issues.

Sinking ship

Everything must come to an end and it seems that COVID-19 could be the final nail in the coffin for the Overwatch League. Countless format restructuring, rematches, stressed players and coaches, players leaving for unreleased games and hero pools that neither the fanbase nor pro players wanted…. That doesn’t sound good.

Overwatch has been around for quite some time and with no release date for Overwatch 2 announced yet, players and fans are worried about the future of Overwatch Ssports. If a game like Valorant takes away its own star players, the Overwatch League and Blizzard will have to take a hard look at themselves to see how they plan to market themselves in the Esports scene in the long run.

Overwatch

Overwatch is a computer game by Blizzard Entertainment (Diablo 3, World of Warcraft) and a first-person shooter with individual fantasy elements. The game was released in May 2016.

In Overwatch, the player must choose between 21 unique characters, which can be freely selected in a loosely held classification system (offensive and defensive class, support unit and tanks).

A character’s three to four different abilities can be controlled and activated through the mouse and keyboard. The game modes already vary from scoring points to cargo hauling. Team play is required in both modes, as each character takes on a specific role in the battlefield (e.g. heal teammates, provide backup, or secure defensive lines).

The name Overwatch derives itself from a fictional elite military unit that came together when robots tried to subjugate humanity in a near future. Individual characters are associated with this unit in the game, while others oppose it. It is not yet known whether the storyline will continue in multiplayer.

Brawl

Brawl is a game mode in which time-limited rule variations of the well-known modes are drawn. Sometimes completely new game modes are used in Brawls.

Rule variations include, for example, the restriction to certain heroes or classes, changes to the cool-down times or certain cards. New game modes that have been playable so far include a soccer game and a PvE mode.

Usually, Brawls are restarted as Brawl of the Week every Tuesday at 22:00 UTC and are then playable for a week. On certain occasions, such as – Season al events, Brawls may also be playable for a longer or shorter period of time.

The game mode is comparable to the card chaos from Hearthstone and was activated for the first time in the beta phase on March 22, 2016 through a patch.

Actions

• Arcade: More health, shorter skill and ultimate cooldowns, and faster resurrection after death.
• Girl Power: Female heroes only.
• Head’s Up!: McCree, Genji, Hanzo, and Widowmaker. Only head hits count.
• High Noon: High Noon on Route 66, only head hits with McCree count.
• Highly Offensive: Only offensive heroes. Limit is two of the same hero per team.
• Junkenstein’s Revenge: Soldier, Hanzo, Ana, Mc Cree only (1 each). The first co-op PVE mode in Overwatch. Part of the – Season al event Halloween Horror.
• Justice rains from Above: Only Mercy and Pharah playable.
• Moba Watch: Only unique heroes per team. No hero switching allowed.
• Mystery Heroes: Upon death, you will be resurrected as a randomly selected Hero.
• Overly Defensive: Only defensive heroes. Limit is two of the same hero per team.
• Show Your Support: Support Heroes only. The limit is two of the same Hero per team.
• Super Shimada Bros: Welcome to Hanamura. Only Hanzo and Genji are playable. Shorter skill cooldowns, longer ultimate cooldowns.
• Tanks A Lot: Tank heroes only. Limit is two of the same hero per team.
• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Only McCree, Reaper and Roadhog playable.
• We’re all Soldiers now: Only Soldier: 76 playable on control cards.
• Lucioball: Lucio only: Soccer mode, 3 vs 3.
• Yeti Hunt: Five meis against a yeti that has the characteristics of Winston.

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