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ESPN: Blizzard having trouble recruiting for Overwatch League due to high cost
- Thread starter ZeroGravity
- Start date
Newtype-001
Member
Wellsince this has 3 pages ill post Blizzards response about rumours and stuff here
https://esports.yahoo.com/blizzard-officially-responds-overwatch-league-rumors-190546691.html
https://esports.yahoo.com/blizzard-officially-responds-overwatch-league-rumors-190546691.html
tiggerkiddo
Member
No revenue sharing for 4 years is the cherry on top.
Saucycarpdog
Member
Looks like they responded.
http://compete.kotaku.com/blizzard-responds-to-controversial-rumors-of-20-millio-1795137785
http://compete.kotaku.com/blizzard-responds-to-controversial-rumors-of-20-millio-1795137785
Last paragraph quote is interesting. Maybe it's not as bad as the ESPN article sounds? Guess we should wait and see.
Immortal Technique
Member
Maybe some intern accidentally added a zero or two? This buy-in is absolutely out-of-their-mind insane.
the large sum of money they are talking about wanting for this makes me think that it is outlandish. At the same time, this is just BS PR speak for now so...
Actually, it is a wonderful game. Whether esports OW will be special or not remains to be seen imo.
It could also be other proleagues trying to down the Overwatch League before it starts so that they don't lose out on viewership.
Leafhopper
Banned
The more I read into this the more sad it gets. Someone already said how things need to change in the game, like spectating for one, before things can get better for this kinda stuff.
The fact that not even a basic free cam is in Overwatch yet is kind of astounding and the game has almost been out a year.
The fact that not even a basic free cam is in Overwatch yet is kind of astounding and the game has almost been out a year.
Lactose_Intolerant
Member
More like the teams trying to drive down the price. None of them can afford it without some billionaire or venture capital fund getting involved.
ShinMaruku
Member
Which is exactly what Blizzard wants, I don't think they care for the teams as presently constructed to jump in. They want real money in it. The whole they don't care about Endemics is pretty clear and transparent.
hanspampel
Banned
so the $20 million figure is real then.
thanks for the confirmation blizzard
thanks for the confirmation blizzard
StrategyFan
Member
20 million to maybe get a fractional ROI by having people watch your guys press q to win
lol
lol
7DollarHagane
Banned
This reads more like blizzard doing a cash grab than anything. 20m lollll
I like how the statement does nothing to refute the 20 million price tag.
TheRedSnifit
Member
Why would they think they could get away with charging that much money? It's like they expected the community-run comp scene to be rivaling CSGO at this point.
They aren't complicated to explain.
The actual problem is that it's a mashup of MOBA and FPS gameplay. But it doesn't have the depth of high-level DotA (which also is inherently more viewer-friendly due to the perspective), so MOBA fans will keep watching DotA. At the same time, people who follow competitive FPSs want to see sick CSGO headshots and Quake airshots, which isn't Overwatch's forte either due to the lower individual skill cap. So FPS fans will keep watching CSGO.
Well, that and the insane visual clutter making it hard to follow intense moments.
They aren't complicated to explain.
The actual problem is that it's a mashup of MOBA and FPS gameplay. But it doesn't have the depth of high-level DotA (which also is inherently more viewer-friendly due to the perspective), so MOBA fans will keep watching DotA. At the same time, people who follow competitive FPSs want to see sick CSGO headshots and Quake airshots, which isn't Overwatch's forte either due to the lower individual skill cap. So FPS fans will keep watching CSGO.
Well, that and the insane visual clutter making it hard to follow intense moments.
ZeroGravity
Member
Yeah, my thought too. It's basically them saying "Fake news!" and not to believe unnamed sources, even though they're coming from a reputable organization in ESPN.
there's no equivalent; Dota's flagship tournaments have open qualifications. There's no franchising fee because there isn't a league to buy a franchise in.
The $1.8 million fee cited for acquiring an LCS slot isn't quite a good comparison, either - it's to purchase a team qualified for the LCS, not a permanent slot. If all the rumors that Riot is going to be instituting franchising in the NA LCS starting next year prove accurate, it'd probably not be outlandish if they were asking for 8 digits, too.
oh right thanks.
seems blizzard is jumping the gun a bit, don't you want the scene to grow naturally first?
veloxStrix
Banned
Which one wins? BS PR Speak or random unnamed sources that conflict with other unnamed sources that have been talking about this stuff for months on the competitive overwatch subreddit, over.gg, twitter, and elsewhere?
I've never seen this $20 million minimum buy in nonsense. We heard that prices could go up to $20 million for better slots like New York and Los Angeles - like I said in my last post. And similar to what Kotaku mentioned here:
Regardless of the pricing though, it's a risky venture but people stand to gain much more than that from it if it does become the first mainstream esport. Massive amounts of money. And if it doesn't, at the very least it will likely end up at the same level that CS:GO is and over the course of the game's life they will probably make that 20mil back. Speaking of which, no one here really knows what the buy-in entails. Is Blizzard going to handle the marketing for each of these teams? What exactly will Blizzard's role be in all this?
Something else no one is thinking about is the difference in welfare for players in a league vs the current setup. Any player at this point is generally forced into an unfavorable contract. Especially in new esports like Overwatch. That's why we see players get dropped so easily and replaced or teams dissolve out of nowhere. The Overwatch League has a potential to give players stable incomes and opportunities along with oversight to make sure that they are treated correctly. Of course no one is arguing about that because it's a lot more fun to be like, "FUCK PEOPLE ASKING FOR MONEY. THE WORLD IS SO GREEDT AMIRITE?" Without thinking about anything.
They are currently in negotiations with various large, professional business entities to start a first-of-its-kind franchised video game league. How specific would you like them to get?
Why wait when you can force it
TheRedSnifit
Member
LCS is an established organization that gets huge amounts of viewers.
OWL is an unestablished league for a game that pulls ~10k viewers for large tournaments, managed by a company that has an incredibly bad track record for managing esports.
One of these is a bit more reasonable than the other.
Gentleman Jack
Member
Not for four years, which is the other BS part of the deal that is corroborated by multiple sources.
TheRedSnifit
Member
They can just as easily give away the slot if they wanted to with a contractual stipulations about player amenities.
The actual reason they're charging $20 million is so that they can make $20 million in revenue for each slot sold.
veloxStrix
Banned
OGN Apex finals and semi-finals pulled an average of 160k live viewers ignoring Chinese web streaming and Korean television broadcasts. And the live audience which is fairly large, but I have no way of getting those numbers. There aren't many "large tournaments" to pull numbers from though. The game is doing insanely well in foreign markets and I imagine that is where we'll see the most support from the scene.
Also, I'm somewhat confused by Blizzard's bad track record considering they are managing four games with esports scenes of varying strength. I don't know any other companies doing that. Five even, if you wanted to count WoW (I don't).
That says revenue sharing - the specifics of we have no idea. Still money to be made from merchandising, sponsorships, and various other routes depending on the size of the organizations buying in. Not to mention that I doubt most teams will be paying asking price - which, assuming this article is 100% true, would be $20 million - rather they would negotiate. Which is why negotiations are going on. I know Blizzard wants to make money. That's why businesses exist. But people are acting like $20 million is some ridiculous sum of money (to begin negotiation on) for what they are offering.
hanspampel
Banned
20 million fee and 50 of that money goes towards marketing and organization of the league. Guaranteed. And if the league fails, you get your investment back.
So you still have only orgs with resources and willing to pay and invest in the league, don't have to payout revenue share and dry out your cash, but many orgs would be willing to pay that fee.
There are different forms of franchising.
I doubt it's the way i described. Blizzard wants to make bank. Fine for them it's their ip, but esports orgs and viewer don't have to support that
So you still have only orgs with resources and willing to pay and invest in the league, don't have to payout revenue share and dry out your cash, but many orgs would be willing to pay that fee.
There are different forms of franchising.
I doubt it's the way i described. Blizzard wants to make bank. Fine for them it's their ip, but esports orgs and viewer don't have to support that
Because those four (five with WoW's "eSports" lol) scenes are in no way at the strengths of just one brand, DotA or LoL. They aren't "dead" brands like many throw around, but the scenes aren't exactly thrilling to watch for competitive sake and Blizzard isn't exactly helping them grow in any real way.
Just look at how they are handling Overwatch outside of this rumoured $20 mil cash grab. Killing third-party eSports scenes, not even setting up tools for spectators and casters, no real set mind on how to present the scene to the audience and really an all-round amateur take on eSports that will inhibit growth because they can't even be bothered to set it actually up first. Why is no one at Blizzard stepping back and going "wait, let us actually do this properly from the ground up instead of jumping into financials."
pretty done
Member
Blizzard fucking up the competitive aspect of a game wow I never could have seen this coming
This is why I thank the universe every day that Blizzard failed to successfully sue Valve over Dota. They would've made it into a shitty proto-HotS that no one would take seriously, charge at least $30 for a copy and millions to start a team. They boggle my mind with what a poor and arrogant approach they have to esports.
Not at all. It's always like this with Blizzard. They get incredibly greedy with their potential esports scenes, oftentimes out of proportion to the game's mindshare/viewership potential as an esport to a cringe-worthy degree. So everyone just drops it.
They keep trying to pull a Riot (which was lightning in a bottle) when they should be trying to pull a Valve.
TheRedSnifit
Member
Then it's a shame that OWL is only going to operate in America? The context of the thread should make it clear I'm talking about the west, where tourneys pull alarmingly small numbers.
"Varying strength"
Esports-wise, StarCraft 2 is dead. Diablo 3 is dead. WoW Arena is dead. HotS and Hearthstone are irrelevant.
Blizzard is consistently by far the most incompetent major company when it comes to handling esports. Riot, Valve, just about anyone else is doing it a thousand times better.
veloxStrix
Banned
And where did you hear that?
Because official word from Blizzard seems to contradict that.
StarCraft 2 still puts up enough numbers to maintain itself. Diablo 3 never had an esports scene, but still has a fairly large community. WoW arena is similar. HotS and Hearthstone are both very successful in comparison to the whole market and not just the top two MOBAs. You don't have to be the best to make money. Often, it's even easier when you aren't. Not to mention HS and HotS both sit in the top 10 of Twitch views consistently. Along with WoW and Overwatch. HS tournaments outstrip almost any other esport barring Lol and DotA in terms of viewers so I don't know how it is irrelevant. Because its "casul"?
TheRedSnifit
Member
And where did you hear that?
Because official word from Blizzard seems to contradict that.
"Our plan is to expand the league over time to include additional teams from the Americas, Europe, China, Korea and Asia pacific region."
"Expand over time."
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OFHpK627XkI
Notice how teams and players from Asia and Europe have been moving to the US so they can play in OWL.
veloxStrix
Banned
Which asian teams? European teams have been moving since before OWL. Because there is no scene in Europe at all relative to APAC and NA.
And "EXPAND OVER TIME" is supposed to prove what? Where in the video does it say only America to begin with? We've never heard any official statement on this. For all we know, the League might start with only one city in each region and expand to include more.
Morgan Stanley doesn't think the OWL success is completely outlandish.
This is worth a read as well.
And the fact that two team slots have been bought into by successful sports organizations seems to imply that the possibility of success is fairly high. Unless of course investors manage to make money by investing in things that the average NeoGAF user can see is going to fail.
mysteriousmage09
Member
Well, this is par the course with Blizzard's greed lately. Not surprised one bit.
pretty done
Member
CS:GO is so much bigger than Overwatch from a competitive standpoint dude, it's not even close. Overwatch will never be the front runner of competitive FPS as long as CS is there.
levyjl1988
Banned
This game isn't viewer friendly at all. In most sports audiences got a view of the entire court. This game needs to at least go third person or something to see multiple viewpoints. Casuals will find it hard to follow thus limiting an audience. In most sports there is a ball so it becomes the focal point of attention. Anything around it is where things become interesting. In Overwatch there are many points of interests and its hard to gather with so many points of view. Remember the ball, puck, birdie, etc in all sports is always tracked. I can't recall what other sport where there is no ball of focus that is not some type of fighting.