State of Overwatch esports

Since r/cow is in perptual denial of OW's clear decline, I thought I'd get a get a discussion going here.

The numbers don't lie; viewership is down, general activity is down (reddit, this site, etc, etc), and the playerbase is down. Sorry I'm not really much room for debate, but I really just wanted to vent about the sad state of affairs Blizzard has led us to.

Sounds like you want to rant more than you want an actual discussion.

The game itself hasn't gotten any worse, at least. OWL matches have been fun to watch and hero pools have made ranked more interesting. Honestly, I don't really care that much about viewership counts and stuff as long as playing and watching the game is enjoyable.

Will have to see couple weeks before I can say do I really like Hero Pools in OWL. Maybe it's teams playing this weekend or meta of this weekend so far not getting to me or I am just tired, but guess I am fine with this, if we end up seeing more variation in comps every week even, if some weeks comps might be boring.

Looking that current live viewers isn't really telling you much about viewership, when some people use MLG. Although I would like to see some team based viewership data around half way of the season. Nobody will be watching every game, when we finally start to have 2 locations for games.

For you maybe but uh... we aren't even going to talk about the abandoned T2/T3?

As an aside: there are other technical problems with the larger YTers have pointed out like the mobile games ads or crunch time running through the desk show, some screen tearing/freezes, and the last fact being; we have no word on how to farm OWL points anymore (beyond some event in-game that are timed). Seems some stuff wasn't thought out before taking OWL international (not that it matters anyway due to corona-virus). IMO that should've been halted off a bit so it can be more fleshed out but I don't expect that from Activision/Blizzard in this day and age with MTX in everything. But that's my opinion so, I just don't like it.

What I'm saying is that since OWL is Activision's money maker, they have to use this not gonna bring in new players for the game. Beyond COD League, since Black Ops 4 was suppose to be that "hero shooter" but it got bad reception with their BR Game Mode Blackout so they just moved on from it. To be honestly it's likely would've been a sooner Destiny 3 if Bungie stayed instead of the current expansions that are on Steam now, though likely the case would've been we most definitely wouldn't have to worry about that totes-not-glorified-sequel-not-sequel game OW2 but hey Activision wants to rush it out the door. IMO I do not think a glorified sequel/not sequel will save the series it's a PVE format, non-comp players wouldn't likely to care so IDK maybe it matters for people who can't play OW at all or like the concept but not the online game.

So this is where we are; abandoned Tier 2/3 scene, management issues with Act/Blizzard across the board (current standing games), slow balance changes, no new heroes since July last year, features which were suppose to be in the game 4 months in as opposed to 4 years later (track record speaks for itself, most games should have replays from the get go even COD Black Ops 1, Crossfire, Battlefield 5/BF1 and BF4 had this at launch, even match tracking too), no progress with the story though to me that is a non-issue as all of these hero-shooters/team-shooters have this problem even Paladins had lore which was retcon in beta then again at live... it's too inconsistent + the fact that the game has legacy bugs like OverWatch and we got the lovely Valorant which maybe soon? Viewership may hit because of the last point but imo Valorant's competition is Crossfire which currently has 660 million people playing it, other wouldn't know because its an '07 game but then again its like "wikiapage says its made 10.8 billion dollars which is on-par with Fortnite, Dungeon Fighter Online, Pokemon Go and LoL" basically top 5 games with gross $ value.

Crossfire, CS and LoL are all dated yes but they aren't hero shooter replacements, Paladins is like following OW's shadow, Valorant is closer to Crossfire and then CSGO but we still have no real information on a beta launch date so until then, OW and Paladins are the only types.

Who knows though? Viewership taking a hit depends on format, casting, outside knowledge on the game as well as inside, advertisement, other forms of drama if that also affect both pro-non-pro perception, if people still play OW or don't, etc.

viewship doesnt mean shit.

nearly every OWL broadcast has been optimized for LA time so half the world hasnt gotten to enjoy a live match yet. us american fans have already been kinda drained over the years and thats why viewship isnt as high as before.