In Blizzard's future plan, the Overwatch League could have revitalized Blizzard on the stage of e-sports, but unexpectedly, it was already facing "miscarriage" before the league was officially formed.
According to foreign media Sports Business Journal, Overwatch Professional League has begun looking for potential buyers before. Blizzard executives believe that league seats in some key markets will be sold at high prices of tens of millions of dollars.
According to reports, the Overwatch Professional League has asked for US$20 million (about RMB 138 million) of access funds from two city teams that are interested in joining. The offer of large cities like New York and Los Angeles may be higher, while the access funds for small cities will drop to around US$15 million. In comparison, League of Legends' access to North American League is only $1.8 million. In addition, the Overwatch Professional League is still in the concept stage, and it is said that each team will not have a stable profit share until 2021.
. According to the latest news, for Blizzard's sky-high price, domestic clubs iG and OMG have made it clear that they will not buy permanent seats in the Overwatch Professional League.
What is the Overwatch Professional League? Why does Blizzard think that league seats can be sold for such a high price?
Simplely put, Blizzard will build its own NBA through the Overwatch Professional League. Five major competition areas have been established around the world, and the number of teams in each competition area is fixed, representing their own city. All league seats will be generated through bidding, and the players of each team will be selected by the draft, and the team they will eventually be selected. The bonus pool is calculated in millions of dollars, and Blizzard is responsible for the players' basic salary and supervises the salary payment of teams (clubs).
E-sports adopts mature league mechanisms of traditional sports, which is a shortcut to success. The league is responsible for formulating rules, operating business, selecting and delivering new players, and building a complete league system. The club is responsible for the signing and training of players, team formation and regular club operations. Players participate in the competitions according to the contract within this system and receive salaries. This good system attracts more and more viewers, thereby attracting sponsors' investment, broadcast rights, advertising and other commercial benefits. These benefits are ultimately shared to each club, so that the bosses of each club can make profits, thus having greater motivation to maintain the league system.
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E-sports adopts the operating model of traditional sports leagues, but can e-sports really copy this system directly? Even if e-sports is developing at present, it is still incomparable to traditional sports that have accumulated over the years. Whether Overwatch can attract enough viewers is unknown, but Blizzard obviously has extraordinary confidence in the new plan for the esports industry, which is expected to be launched in the third quarter of 2017.
Although according to the financial report of Activision Blizzard , Overwatch has sold more than 25 million sets worldwide. But after all, "Overwatch" has just been on the market for a year, and it is still unknown whether anyone will buy it in the relevant competition. Popularity will directly affect the success or failure of this league. From tickets to surrounding sales and advertising, all of them are related to the attention of the competition. Although "Overwatch" has achieved certain achievements at present. But at least judging from the number of followers on the live broadcast platform, its professional events are not attractive enough.
Compared with Overwatch, other e-sports projects, " Counter-Strike : Global Offensive" and "League of Legends" have cultivated fixed users who pay attention to game dynamics through years of accumulation, but the league seats in these events have not been sold at tens of millions of dollars.This may be the first time Blizzard has publicly told others that my game will become the next e-sports venue, but does Blizzard really have the strength to determine the entire market now?
Overwatch e-sports president said in an interview that the plan for the Overwatch Professional League was opened in September 2017 has not changed, and related formal commercial roadshows are also in progress. However, many industry insiders are pessimistic about this time. Since the announcement of Carnival, no details about the project have been revealed, and many clubs doubt whether Blizzard has enough time to plan for it. Moreover, many clubs have signed agreements with players. Is every club re-merged into Blizzard's league system? This involves many legal issues.
You can see that Blizzard is full of confidence in the league model of Overwatch, but we still don’t see any movement in league promotion and establishment. Is there really a club willing to buy a plan that still exists in the imagination?
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