Perhaps you never thought the day would come, but here we are: the bulk of the Overwatch League’s inaugural season has come to a close. The grandest, most expensive of the numerous esports league experiments that cropped up this year saw an explosive, promising beginning that was quickly tempered by time and repetition.



The League’s tournament format proved deeply flawed and the competition itself, although home to a number of phenomenal matches, largely lackluster. The lack of cohesion between Overwatch the game and Overwatch the esport made for a series of poorly executed patches that negatively impacted the competition. The League excelled in surface-level production, both on-stream and in-person at the Blizzard Arena, and many critics’ early localization criticisms now appear unfounded. Overall, the season was a cautious, modest success that leaves considerable room for both improvement and skepticism regarding the League’s longevity.



Regarding tournament format, several problems were exposed over the last six months, beginning with the League’s map system. The dominance teams have demonstrated on select maps – e.g. the Houston Outlaws rarely lost Junkertown in Stage 1; the New York Excelsior once owned Illios for themselves – necessitates a pick-ban system. Matches are too easily decided on a pre-determined map pool, and one team’s map differential should not suffer because some Blizzard employee decided months ago that they would play the Outlaws on Junkertown while another team plays them on Route 66.

▲ Robert Paul for Blizzard Ent.



Furthermore, the order in which each team plays certain maps potentially provides unfair advantages and disadvantages. If, say, the Excelsior are scheduled to play Hanamura against the Valiant and the Gladiators in Week 1 of a stage and then start Week 2 with Volskaya Industries against the Uprising, then the Uprising have no material with which to prepare against their opponent. Meanwhile, the Uprising could have played Volskaya for both of their week one matches, providing the Excelsior with ample footage of their compositions and playstyles on that map and on a new patch.



This is only one of a virtually limitless number of scenarios that can arise from the current pre-scheduled map system, but the point is that the tournament structure used in the regular season has too much potential to skew results. In order to make the competition more legitimate and competitive, teams need to have a modicum of control over their own fates via a pick-ban system. As one of the League’s own analysts noted, season one’s map format does not work well with how professional Overwatch is being played.





"Eventually, a draft system should be implemented, as well as a relegation system, to tighten the competition."





Next, teams must play all other teams in each stage. This change was requested numerous times by various players and coaches, and it is a wonder that the League even launched with such an egregious flaw. Whether a team plays another team at its strongest or weakest can significantly influence map differentials and overall standings, and meta shifts triggered by balance patches proved a reliable catalyst for shifts in skill discrepancies.



Those balance patches hit at the start of a new stage, meaning that some teams missed out on the free wins or losses that other teams capitalized on in various stages because of an arbitrary match schedule written by a Blizzard employee before the League began. Disallowing each team to face one other team each stage is simply illogical and unacceptable when the competition is as tumultuous as season one has proven it can be. This format must change for season two.

▲ Robert Paul for Blizzard Ent.

The competition itself was characterized by too frequent, too powerful balance patches and a glaring skill disparity amongst teams. To the latter point, approximately 65% of season one games (excluding stage playoffs) ended 4-0 or 3-1, with the former outcome marginally more frequent. 3-0s make up another 6%. Naturally, the final scoreboard does not always tell the full story of a match, but the sheer frequency of these outcomes is nonetheless indicative of the relative strength of teams throughout the season.



The New York Excelsior consistently performed leagues above the rest while the Shanghai Dragons, Dallas Fuel, and Florida Mayhem struggled to close out maps, much less matches. Other teams’ seasons were marked by streaks of under- and over-performance that persisted until stage shifts or roster changes. Stage 4 saw the narrowing of the gaps perhaps more than any other stage and that was only off the back of a major, short-lived balance patch and the alleged complacency of the League’s most dominant team.



There were a handful of riveting, truly excellent matches over the last six months, but those flashes of brilliance were too often bookended by periods of stagnant gameplay and buzzkilling skill discrepancies. Eventually, a draft system should be implemented, as well as a relegation system, to tighten the competition. It is a bad look, to say the least, that one of the League’s teams was able to complete the season without a single series win.

▲ Shanghai Dragons end their season 0-40 - Robert Paul for Blizzard Ent.

Major balance patches coming into effect at the start of each stage proved the most reliable way to shake up teams’ relative skill rankings, but season one’s turbulent patches set a bad precedent for the esport. There is little point in hosting a six-month long tournament to determine the best of the best if the game being played is reinvented each stage. Longevity means nothing without consistency.





"Overwatch the game cannot operate independently of Overwatch the esport..."



Frequent overhaul of the competition left viewers with deeply unsatisfying conclusions to the storylines that developed throughout the season. Too many teams’ tales ended with “they just couldn’t adapt to this patch or that patch.” The improvement (or lack thereof) of each team that should have been discernible after half a year of play became a convoluted mess of qualified statements.



In the interest of maintaining the competition’s integrity (and given how little time the League allocates for teams to adjust to new patches), the game itself should remain as consistent as possible. Metas should be able to morph organically or without significant developer influence over the course of a season, and the game should not have to look different every other month to retain audience engagement.



Balance changes that introduce fresh heroes, overhaul old heroes, or otherwise radically change the competitive landscape must be scheduled with the Overwatch League in mind. Overwatch the game cannot operate independently of Overwatch the esport, no matter how much r/Overwatch may loathe the idea.



Although the Overwatch League’s tournament structure leaves something to be desired, Blizzard’s production quality remains top-notch. This, of course, was never a concern – the gaming company employs an army of diverse, talented individuals who specialize in capturing the essence of their stunning 2D games and bringing them to life.



At the Blizzard Arena, an expansive, one-of-a-kind LED screen envelops the audience in the maps they have spent hours playing in-game, and, on a good day, the albeit small stadium bursts with energy and excitement as teams take to the stage. Various events and promotions throughout the season kept the experience fresh for regular attendees, and a cadre of Blizzard employees you are not likely to have noticed on screen worked tirelessly and on short notice to bring teams’ dramatic walkout dreams to life.

▲ London Spitfire spoof the Royal Wedding - Robert Paul for Blizzard Ent.

The mid-season addition of Malik and Goldenboy lent much-needed variety to the broadcast, and the removal of Soe from the analyst desk helped to clarify her role and segment the production. The analysis, although at times frustratingly simple for veteran viewers, appealed to the League’s newer audience members and improved leaps and bounds as the season wore on. That being said, the desk did miss an opportunity for entertainment by not inviting players to contribute.



As far as casting goes, UberShouts and Mr. X – “UberX” – are deserving of special recognition. Viewers, especially newer ones, heavily depend on casters to guide them through the cluttered, pixelated action taking place on their screens, and UberX wielded this power deftly, consistently providing both exciting storylines and the passion to drive them.



Their distinct styles blended seamlessly to deliver the focused, comprehensive, high energy commentary Overwatch esports so desperately needs. Neither caster was without flaws this season, but overall, the duo was a cut above the rest and something the League should take pride in.



The observation team had a great season, forgiving a few noteworthy hiccups. The job is taxing and unforgiving, but the observers tackled it willingly and competently. In-game spectating remains a problem in Overwatch esports, but the League’s now habitual use of overhead cam and replays is the closest any crew has come to solving it.



Their quality aside, broadcasts were at least six, but often seven, hours long – in other words: too long. The matches themselves – at least twelve maps each night, four nights a week – are a lot to consume in a short period of time, but the filler content (sponsor commercials to hype segments to timers that too often tick down to miscellaneous, redundant videos, etc.) went a step further in testing viewers’ attention spans.



Hopefully, as the League expands into various cities, this problem will dissipate, but the length of each broadcast and the considerable downtime that contributed to it was draining in season one.



Finally, it almost goes without saying that the Overwatch League’s viewership – or, at the very least, Twitch viewership – faltered as the season wore on. Stage playoffs consistently managed to draw crowds, but regular season games struggled to reach and maintain 100,000 viewers, even with incentives to watch and the marketing arms of both Blizzard and Twitch on the case, and anyone who was lucky enough to attend multiple matches in-person can attest to the frequency of sparse crowds.



Depending on which esports philosophy you subscribe to, the League’s middling regular season success is either encouraging or disconcerting. On one hand, Overwatch itself is still a relatively new game with a substantial player base and the League is still a novelty with limitless funding and a powerful marketing team; season one was the Overwatch League’s time to shine before its competition found a foothold. Alternatively, one could consider this a successful season for an infant esport; season one was not meant to explode and the only way to go is up.





Either way, viewership is likely the last thing on Blizzard’s mind. They have acquired numerous lucrative sponsorships and filled six expansion slots for season two, all with higher price tags than the first twelve. Merchandise and ticket sales are undoubtedly promising, and the League's success has reportedly prompted Activision to create a Call of Duty pro league. It would be foolish to suggest that the League is going anywhere soon or on the doorstep of irrelevancy due to its first season performance.



Where there is a will, Blizzard will find a way, and its crown jewel will go local in the coming seasons. But as an admittedly cynical esports viewer who is increasingly frustrated with the direction the game is taking and the lack of acknowledgment of its fundamental problems, it is difficult to don rose-colored lenses and say that Overwatch, as an esport, is meant to thrive for years to come.



I sincerely hope to eat my words.