Blizzard goes full cash grab with Overwatch League on Twitch

[Turtlejuice]

Yes. Though the additional content and information previously given to the esport viewer for free is now behind a paywall.

Twitch in 2016(?) embedded commercials in the player so that certain addons for web browsers couldnt block them anymore. How Blizzard handles these advertisements during non-live gameplay will be interesting.





I can say with 100% certainty that this is false in CSGO broadcasting when it comes to Valve Majors and third party event organizer events.

CSGO is one of their games. DOTA tournaments require a pass to watch. Actually a little surprised CSGO ones don't.

 

[SwamiLeoni]

This is pretty wild. If Capcom ever put a price tag on watching their Pro Tour I would just skip it all together and wait for replays (with the exception of EVO and Capcom Cup Finals…maybe). Seems greedy to me, but then again I don’t know how much it costs to run these events. Surely they have attendance fees and TV sponsors, but does Twitch charge them to host it? I’d be interested to know if this money will be pure gain and they’re being greedy or if it’s a necessary cost.

Actually I may take that back. If the subscription money goes towards the Winners Pot at the tournament, I may buy in. But it has to be for THAT tournament and once (more like if) FG Pro’s start getting paid in the millions for winning a tournament, I will 100% back-off that.

 

[Execute]

Watching somebody play a game is the definition of madness IMO. There's not the sort of barrier to entry as there in REAL life sports. I also get pissed off at watching people play through a level in walkthroughs. Just write it down.

I banned my kid from watching other people play games. Especially since the dudes playing are mostly arrogant potty-mouthed millenials.

But then again to each his own.

Barrier to entry is higher in "real" sports? Professional League has a few hundred pro players at one time, meanwhile there's 67 million players that play every month. There's maybe a fraction of that playing American football every month. They may not get paid like real athletes, but they're certainly the cream of the crop in their respective game.

 

[KaNesDeath]

Seems greedy to me, but then again I don’t know how much it costs to run these events.

Blizzard bought MLG in 2016 to be their esports delivery platform, yet they decided to broadcast OWL on Twitch instead. Companies seeking to franchise a team in OWL were forced to put forth at minimum six million in capital. Each team is also forced to salary at maximum twelve players for a six man player roster. For the 2019 season each team franchise will need to lease a stadium/auditorium in their franchise city to host lan based league events weekly.

OWL has had two stages so far. Stage 2 saw a 50% loss in peak viewership numbers compared to Stage 1. While the average viewers was 136K for Stage 1 and 131K for Stage 2. One needs to also keep in mind that OWL has zero esports programming competition on Twitch during their time slot.

Its a pure cash grab. Since Blizzard formed a OWL system based around it being established and sustainable through advertisers.

 

[Gref]

This is pretty wild. If Capcom ever put a price tag on watching their Pro Tour I would just skip it all together and wait for replays (with the exception of EVO and Capcom Cup Finals…maybe). Seems greedy to me, but then again I don’t know how much it costs to run these events. Surely they have attendance fees and TV sponsors, but does Twitch charge them to host it? I’d be interested to know if this money will be pure gain and they’re being greedy or if it’s a necessary cost.

Actually I may take that back. If the subscription money goes towards the Winners Pot at the tournament, I may buy in. But it has to be for THAT tournament and once (more like if) FG Pro’s start getting paid in the millions for winning a tournament, I will 100% back-off that.

Canada Cup. $8.95. FGC will never have a pay to view event ever again.