The top three Twitch channels to stream Overwatch in 2017 were influencers. Only three of the top 10 channels to air the game were tournament organizers.

In the first full calendar year following Overwatch’s release, the title’s esports scene was secondary to the influence of Twitch streamers like Timothy “TimTheTatman” Betar, Brandon “Seagull” Larned, and Félix “xQc” Lengyel.

Until the Overwatch League came into existence. While Overwatch is recording more overall hours watched year-over-year with more than 242M hours half way through December, a huge chunk of that comes from the OWL channel. The Overwatch League channel’s 1.95K hours of airtime racked up 74.6M hours watched, and both of Blizzard Entertainment’s Korean channels for the title have more than 5M hours watched.

Last year Overwatch’s 190M hours watched was spread across numerous streamers who averaged between 2K-13.5K concurrent viewers (CCV). The top non-personality specific channel (playoverwatch) only accounted for 6.7M hours watched. Other esports organizers only drew a total of 3.25M hours watched at most.

One frequently cited reasons for the severe decrease in influencers broadcasting the game has been OWL itself.

From January until June, Wednesdays-Saturdays were regularly packed with OWL game coverage. Streamers like Betar, who typically started his evening stream around 8:00 p.m. EST, would lose viewers who were more interested in watching professional competition.

The life of an Overwatch personality became difficult. Looking for a way to keep viewers, higher-profile streamers began to look to streaming a variety of games instead of just playing Overwatch.

As Fortnite became more prevalent, Betar, who was the most-watched Overwatch personality in 2017, saw the success of his stream soar as he transitioned from the class-based shooter to a battle royale game.

Other top streamers were quick to take similar courses of action. One-by-one, top Overwatch streamers began streaming other games more frequently and many completely abandoned the game.

Possibly the final straw to break the back of Overwatch as a title that used to be streamed by a plethora of influencers was Lengyel’s move away from the game. Lengyel was one of few OWL pros who was committed to streaming during the season, and after leaving the league prematurely he continued to dedicate much of his stream to the title.

As the year dragged on, Lengyel became jaded with the game much in the way that many other personalities did, and he hasn’t streamed the game since Nov. 16. Instead he has decided to take a variety approach to gaming.

Along with the lacking numbers that directly correlated with OWL games, streamers who gained vast amounts of popularity from playing Overwatch were fatigued from playing it since its May 2016 release.

The combination of Overwatch burnout and the introduction of Fortnite and other popular battle royale games that are much more intrinsically streamer-friendly, have hit the marketplace for personality streaming in Overwatch hard.

So where does the future lie for Overwatch on Twitch?

Much like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive or Dota 2 , the future of Overwatch viewership lies with esports. A decrease in personality streamers playing the game makes finding an influencer to sponsor or partner with difficult. Instead working with OWL teams and players will likely provide the most exposure for people looking to market in the space.

Once the game’s highly-anticipated, franchised league began play, influencers began to exit, but a different type of opportunity arose for Blizzard Entertainment’s title, one more lucrative for the publisher itself. While numerous personalities have stopped playing the game, Blizzard and the Overwatch League now hold significantly more power over the way their title is presented.

Now, the opportunity is with Blizzard. The league and its franchised teams have a plethora of partners and sponsors that are all subject to oversight by the developer. Instead of streamers like Betar playing Overwatch with a Monster Energy fridge strategically placed into the influencer’s broadcast, OWL can reap the benefits of sponsorships by high-profile players in the esports sponsorship game like OMEN by HP, Intel , and T-Mobile.