Mentioned in this article Teams: Flyquest, OpTic Gaming Games: Overwatch

A report from ESPN’s Jacob Wolf has outlined the addition of two more franchises for the growing Overwatch League, and predicts a third. Per ESPN’s sources, the Houston region has been snagged by OpTic Gaming, while Philadelphia has been claimed by none other than Comcast Spectacor—”the owner of the Philadelphia Flyers and sports branch of cable giant Comcast.”

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Per ESPN’s sources, Houston has been snagged by OpTic Gaming, while Philadelphia has been claimed by Comcast Spectacor.[/perfectpullquote]

A third slot, Wolf reports, is in the works under the banner of Milwaukee Bucks co-owner and esports organization Flyquest founder Wesley Edens. Still not confirmed, Edens’ franchise will likely end up in Chicago, IL.

OpTic’s Houston slot was forecasted by another report earlier this week, and while Comcast’s inclusion in the league is a big surprise (and a big win for Blizzard), the real story here is about the regionalization of OWL.

Let’s backtrack: Blizzard initially sold the OWL as a global league with franchises competing from multiple major cities across five continents, including South America and Australia. Here’s an image showing their conception of what OWL would look like at that time.

Since then, a number of official announcements and unconfirmed reports have painted a rather different picture. If all the unconfirmed team locations turn out to be true, we can pinpoint thirteen of the planned fourteen OWL Season one franchises:

Only having three non-American franchises is a huge issue for the Overwatch League. There is a massive esports scene across Europe and in Asia, and significant ones in South America, Australia and the rest of SEA, and even in places like South Africa and Russia. Overwatch is a global hit, and Blizzard should have no problem finding fans in all of those locations.

[perfectpullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Regardless of the way Blizzard Entertainment arrived at this situation, it needs to act if it truly wants the OWL to be global.[/perfectpullquote]

But what Blizzard couldn’t find enough of yet, apparently, is franchises. Is this the result of the way Blizzard treated endemic esports teams? Or simply the outcome of demanding $20 million up front to be an OWL franchise?

Regardless of the way Blizzard Entertainment arrived at this situation, it needs to act if it truly wants the OWL to be global. Failing to integrate into every significant esports region and market will only mean there’s a void that other esports organizers will be happy to fill. Blizzard will then be faced with weakening its brand by allowing other leagues to fill the gap it created, or breed animosity among fans by shutting down its competitors.

Add in that matches for Season one, due to time constraints, will all be played at a Blizzard-owned arena in Southern California (with franchises hopefully able to spread out to their home locations in subsequent seasons). Right now, the OWL is dangerously close to becoming the OWL of America.