The Overwatch Leagueis Blizzard’s official esports league forOverwatch 2and was originally created in 2016 forOverwatch. WhenOverwatch 2launched in 2022, Blizzard fully transitioned Overwatch League to the new free-to-playOverwatchsequel. While much of the gameplay is similar to the original game, the free-to-play nature ofOverwatch 2has affected the way that players obtain cosmetics and could affect the way Blizzard promotes Overwatch League.
With20 city-based Overwatch League teamsfrom all over the world, it’s a big part of the esports scene and fans can watch for free on the official YouTube channel. In recent events, Overwatch League has seen a drastic dip in peak viewership that could be hugely detrimental to Blizzard if the trend continues. ButOverwatch 2’s new, pricey approach to in-game cosmetics could provide the perfect incentive to get moreOverwatch 2players watching Overwatch League streams.
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Rewarding Overwatch Viewers With Cosmetics
Video game companies often reward gamers with in-game items for watching streams. In fact,Overwatchhas done this numerous times byrewardingOverwatch 2players for watching Twitch streams, granting skins, sprays, and weapon cosmetics when a fan reached a certain number of hours watched. Twitch has built-in integrations designed expressly for allowing viewers to earn and claim these drops in their favorite games, so the practice has become popular for many games, not justOverwatch 2.
In fact, Overwatch League did exactly that in 2018 when it was streaming on Twitch — watching Overwatch League granted players tokens that could be exchanged in the game for Overwatch League skins for a number of heroes. However, Overwatch League no longer streams on Twitch, instead announcing its official partner as YouTube in 2020. YouTube does have similar drop capabilities and allows viewers to attach a Battle.net account to their YouTube account to earn Overwatch League Tokens. During the 2022 Overwatch League season, players were rewarded withfive Overwatch League Tokens per hour viewed.
Improving the Overwatch League Cosmetics
While Overwatch League does reward players for watching with Overwatch League Tokens, there are a few major flaws with the current system that doesn’t particularly incentivize players to watch. Firstly, viewers will earn five Overwatch League Tokens per hour viewed, but all of the available cosmetics bundles currently cost 350 Overwatch League Tokens — that means a viewer will have to watch 70 hours of Overwatch League just to purchase a single cosmetics bundle. The Tokens are also available for purchase, further enforcing the narrative thatall cosmetics inOverwatch 2will cost real-life money.
Secondly, the only cosmetics that can be purchased with Overwatch League Tokens are themed afterOverwatch 2esports teams like Seoul Dynasty, LA Gladiators, and London Spitfire. These skins are simple recolors of the heroes' existing skins, with occasional changes to things likeKiriko’s fox. While superfans ofOverwatchesports teams might enjoy representing their favorite city inOverwatch 2, a huge number ofOverwatch 2players don’t watch Overwatch League consistently and don’t have that much of an affinity for a certain team. Plus, with the 70-hour requirement, the incentive to watch Overwatch League is low.
If Blizzard were to offer more options for cosmetics that can be exchanged for Overwatch League Tokens, players would be much more likely to watch. Offering legendary skins, old seasonal skins, or brand-new cosmetics forOverwatch 2’s heroes would bring new viewers to Overwatch League because the practice already workswhenOverwatch 2does Twitch drops— free cosmetics are almost always appealing.
TheOverwatch League 2023 seasonis set to begin on March 23, and it remains to be seen what Blizzard will do in terms of cosmetic drops. Fans will have to keep an eye out to see if any changes are made to the Overwatch League Token system or the offerings available in the in-game Overwatch League store.
Overwatch 2is now available on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
