it will never take esports into mainstream for one simple reason : it is unwatchable if you have played the game before. i cannot imagine anyone with no previous knowledge of the game understanding anything going on let alone enjoy any of it.
erm maybe?
People watch regular sports all the time only knowing the basics.
This is true. I don't think a human alive on Earth knows all the rules to football.
But it's not about the rules being hard to understand- it's the perspective. Football would be hard to watch if the camera zoomed in on the player's perspectives all the time. But you want to do that because it's how you show how impressive the players are with their aim and skill.
Plus all the action takes place in a set area that's easy to capture with cameras. In Overwatch, people can fly and flank. There are tons of walls that obscure.
Like I said, though, I think it's possible to figure out a way of presenting it that's coherent for an average person. They haven't done it yet, though, and it won't be easy.
The price Blizzard was asking may not have been the price paid (assuming there are buy-ins). And the NFL owners will doubtless have conditions of their own.
Starcraft, incidentally another Blizzard title, did not die off quickly. An HD remaster might even inject some new life in it. I think Overwatch and Blizzard could make it happen, but if it isn't them then a similar thing will happen with another franchise. It will be big names and big money. The littler teams now will get squeezed out if they don't step up.
outside of korea starcraft 1 was never really a thing with like 2 international players and 2 casters that people will remember (elky who is now a world renown poker player and idra because he was a bad mannered idiot certainly not on par with other high level players skillwise and tasteless and artosis who are great casters), starcraft 2 worldwide was a thing for 2 or 3 years but it is now mostly dead outside of korea.
i don't doubt a title will emerge and bridge the gap between mainstream and the esport niche.
when that will happen,i'm afraid of the amount of vultures it will bring with it.
they will prey on the young teenagers/young adults with little to no knowledge of contracts and how they work, promising them the world and stealing their hard earned money. it has happened already (especially in korea) and it will happen again if nothing is being done to secure the whole thing.
It's not clear to me if it's too high or not. It may be. The ESPN article only mentioned Kraft from the Patriots buying in, but apparently the Dolphins owner also did, according to the other article. I wonder if the ESPN article would have been the same if they knew there were 2 slots sold instead of just 1.
It is clear to me that the league will not consist of traditional e-sport teams like Complexity or Solo-Mid, but I never expected that anyway. I didn't think teams like that had the resources to maintain a city franchise, which is what the Overwatch League is all about.
The biggest question I have is if they can make the game enjoyable for "regular people" to watch. Games like League of Legends have been proven to be viable, at least in Korea, but LOL is comparatively slow and it's 3rd person. Overwatch, by comparison, is incredibly fast-paced, complex and 1st person.
They've spent resources improving the spectator cam, but I don't think it's enough- yet.
Personally, I think they should be asking for a bare minimum just to get the League going. E-Sports is not proven anywhere but Korea really. Once (if) it proves to be a valid spectator sport, they can charge more to remain in the league. Maybe they are planning to do this anyway and are currently just in the 1st stages of negotiation.
I really want this to happen and would love to attend a game in-person. I think Overwatch has the potential to take e-sports into the mainstream, but they have to do it right and it won't be easy.
it will never take esports into mainstream for one simple reason : it is unwatchable if you have played the game before. i cannot imagine anyone with no previous knowledge of the game understanding anything going on let alone enjoy any of it.
and this is the major problem of overwatch as an esport, the game is fun to play but it is absolutely horrible to spectate.
the only genre that has a real shot at becoming truly mainstream (outside of korea) are fighting games (like sf5, marvel vs capcom is way too messy for that) for the sole reason that it is extremely straightforward even with no previous knowledge of the game.
add good commentary to that and even my grandma can understand what's going on with a little more depth and understanding and actually enjoy it.
develop players story, rivalry and history and the genre will be the most mainstream competitive videogame within 5 years.
capcom with their protour is doing it slowly and steadily and judging by the numbers, it's working.
This is true for any physical sport that you are not familiar with. Try
to follow a cricket game if you don't know the rules. But you don't have
to play cricket to understand it, just keep watching and you will
learn. This will also be true for esports.
There is a difference
however. And this is where I partly agree with you. The 1st person view
in a game like Overwatch, while immersive, is not always the best for
spectators. I don't know if this is possible, but if they didn't add
this yet, Blizzard should add an overview camera setup specifically for
spectating. That way you can see the tactics being used a lot better.
Blizzard are showing themselves to make astute decisions. They will pull this off.
They killed Titan and used some of the assets to cobble together OW and now they are up to their balls in cubic moneydollars from a simple arena shooter.
Blizzard is trying to price out conventional teams it seems. They want 20mil per slot and they aren't even guaranteeing revenue sharing till AFTER 2021...... So that slot will cost you more than 20 million. You will still have to pay the players. Even a shitty detective... I mean financial advisor would advise against buying into this league. They also have to hit certain criteria in order to get revenue sharing. The league also gets 25% if a team is sold... Looks like Blizzard has covered their greedy business side. Games like counterstrike, League, and going real old school... Halo built the esports scene.
Now Blizzard wants to come in and charge a premium for team slots. In my opinion get lost Blizzard.
I hope my generation passes on taking part in this overwatch greed.
Overwatch hard to understand? tough to spectate?
I don't understand this -- it's a very basic sort of competition, no "rules" per se, nothing going on that would make you say, "Why did they do that?" such as foul calls, PaTs, free throws... just two bunches of people shooting at each other. Maybe seeing Mercy at work would throw you off for a bit. I watched one e-sports show (League of Legends? I'm not sure) and it was deadly disappointing -- like watching a bunch of little toys moving around a little and then flurries of tiny activity ... it helped that the announcers explained about the different stages and cores and stuff, but in OW it's all about fighting over a patch of ground or escorting a payload.
Yes, OW it gets hectic and the FPV is limiting, and there is flanking and "flying" (really? I wouldn't call it that, more like jump-jet altitude boosting), but all of that would be fixed by simply having independent cameras for broadcasting -- and STAY WITH THE ACTION!
That was another thing that bothered me about my e-sports watching experience -- the cutaways to the players (or fans) totally interrupted the flow of the game, and added little or nothing. In the major real sports, there are pauses (the NFL actually pauses for commercials, doesn't it?) like when they call time outs, go into a huddle, or set up for a free throw, and then it's fine to show the fans, who often wear crazy hats or paint their faces and such.
So stay with the action -- build up the players, get into their backgrounds, show how they contribute to their local neighborhoods, but do that before and after the matches, cut to them and the fans between rounds. During the (non-stop) gameplay, have a bunch of virtual cameras, especially 2-4 fixed-position ones (able to pan and scan, of course) set back at a distance from the point of contention or payload, use a time delay and those on-screen markers or pointers with the commentary, and all shall be as clear as day.
What caught my eye was this: "causing many professional eSports teams to disband their Overwatch divisions" -- sounds like bad news for casual players. I've already been in games where it seemed like one side were pros or generally played competitive together and the other side was a random bunch of casual players. Or does OW's team-matching algorithm take into account things like that? Seems like it would be hard to do. Don't know why people would do that, maybe one game as a warm-up but do some people just like to win even if it's so easy it's like pros playing against a summer city-league team?
Someone said it was a mistake for Blizzard to try to make an e-sport game out of one geared to casual players, but you're going to get a lot more people watching if it's something they can play casually themselves and have fun with it. And I think more people will be interested in a game with diverse characters and fighting approaches, rather than one where everybody has a rifle or machine gun, maybe hand grenades and smoke bombs but still all pretty much the same. And while playing Torbjorn, Bastion, Pharah, a tank or healer might not require the skills of playing McCree, Soldier, or Reaper... well, try playing them and you'll see none of them are a walk in the park, it takes different skills to play them right.
But if people are going to watch because they've enjoyed playing it a bit themselves, or try playing because they've watched it some (and then will want to watch more), the game really needs to have some sort of "playground," "kindergarten" and/or "sandlot" setting which will, more than QP, be just for casual players, maybe based on hours per week (not total hours or level).
Esports has to be the worst coined term in the history of mankind...For the last time, it has absolutely nothing to do with sports and the players have zero to do with a true athlete.....It like calling a first grader learning to write the alphabet an author.
We call the writers for Fifty Shades of Grey and Twilight "authors", so......
it will never take esports into mainstream for one simple reason : it is unwatchable if you have played the game before. i cannot imagine anyone with no previous knowledge of the game understanding anything going on let alone enjoy any of it.
and this is the major problem of overwatch as an esport, the game is fun to play but it is absolutely horrible to spectate.
If the average sports fan can understand what's going on in football, soccer or any team sport Overwatch won't be hard to understand to the average gamer.
That won't be the reason it won't hit the mainstream.
Esports has to be the worst coined term in the history of mankind...For the last time, it has absolutely nothing to do with sports and the players have zero to do with a true athlete.....It like calling a first grader learning to write the alphabet an author.
TBH, if snooker/pool or darts are classed as sports I don't see why computer games can't be.
You are wrong and so far out to lunch its laughable. Did you even think before you typed that crap? Listen "regular" sports works because we all played them as kids as in THE SAME SPORT THAT PROS STILL PLAY WHEN WE GROW UP, and our parents did and our grandparents did as well. Most games are lucky if they can survive 5 maybe ten years before they disappear forever and are replaced by another game, new rules, new players, new everything. Soccer is always soccer same sport for hundreds of years... Esports is utter garbage and unwatchable unless you are invested in the game itself.
I see a lots of you dont understand they ask 20 for the Franchise !! If you buy the Franchise you will stay in division no matter how bad your team will be. In LCS you go in challenger and good bey ,no sponsors lose the time whit challengers teams. Is A HUGE DIFFERENCE for this they ask 20 mil .
You are wrong and so far out to lunch its laughable. Did you even think before you typed that crap?
Do you?
Listen "regular" sports works because we all played them as kids as in THE SAME SPORT THAT PROS STILL PLAY WHEN WE GROW UP, and our parents did and our grandparents did as well. Most games are lucky if they can survive 5 maybe ten years before they disappear forever and are replaced by another game, new rules, new players, new everything. Soccer is always soccer same sport for hundreds of years... Esports is utter garbage and unwatchable unless you are invested in the game itself.
Overwatch is a team based FPS. Team based FPS have been played competitively since the mid/late 90's.
Yes Overwatch will come and go but the team based FPS "esport" won't. Same as RTS, MOBA etc.
Comments
This is true. I don't think a human alive on Earth knows all the rules to football.
But it's not about the rules being hard to understand- it's the perspective. Football would be hard to watch if the camera zoomed in on the player's perspectives all the time. But you want to do that because it's how you show how impressive the players are with their aim and skill.
Plus all the action takes place in a set area that's easy to capture with cameras. In Overwatch, people can fly and flank. There are tons of walls that obscure.
Like I said, though, I think it's possible to figure out a way of presenting it that's coherent for an average person. They haven't done it yet, though, and it won't be easy.
The price Blizzard was asking may not have been the price paid (assuming there are buy-ins). And the NFL owners will doubtless have conditions of their own.
outside of korea starcraft 1 was never really a thing with like 2 international players and 2 casters that people will remember (elky who is now a world renown poker player and idra because he was a bad mannered idiot certainly not on par with other high level players skillwise and tasteless and artosis who are great casters), starcraft 2 worldwide was a thing for 2 or 3 years but it is now mostly dead outside of korea.
i don't doubt a title will emerge and bridge the gap between mainstream and the esport niche.
when that will happen,i'm afraid of the amount of vultures it will bring with it.
they will prey on the young teenagers/young adults with little to no knowledge of contracts and how they work, promising them the world and stealing their hard earned money. it has happened already (especially in korea) and it will happen again if nothing is being done to secure the whole thing.
This is true for any physical sport that you are not familiar with. Try
to follow a cricket game if you don't know the rules. But you don't have
to play cricket to understand it, just keep watching and you will
learn. This will also be true for esports.
There is a difference
however. And this is where I partly agree with you. The 1st person view
in a game like Overwatch, while immersive, is not always the best for
spectators. I don't know if this is possible, but if they didn't add
this yet, Blizzard should add an overview camera setup specifically for
spectating. That way you can see the tactics being used a lot better.
거북이는 목을 내밀 때 안 움직입니다
They killed Titan and used some of the assets to cobble together OW and now they are up to their balls in cubic moneydollars from a simple arena shooter.
Now Blizzard wants to come in and charge a premium for team slots. In my opinion get lost Blizzard.
I hope my generation passes on taking part in this overwatch greed.
I don't understand this -- it's a very basic sort of competition, no "rules" per se, nothing going on that would make you say, "Why did they do that?" such as foul calls, PaTs, free throws... just two bunches of people shooting at each other. Maybe seeing Mercy at work would throw you off for a bit. I watched one e-sports show (League of Legends? I'm not sure) and it was deadly disappointing -- like watching a bunch of little toys moving around a little and then flurries of tiny activity ... it helped that the announcers explained about the different stages and cores and stuff, but in OW it's all about fighting over a patch of ground or escorting a payload.
Yes, OW it gets hectic and the FPV is limiting, and there is flanking and "flying" (really? I wouldn't call it that, more like jump-jet altitude boosting), but all of that would be fixed by simply having independent cameras for broadcasting -- and STAY WITH THE ACTION!
That was another thing that bothered me about my e-sports watching experience -- the cutaways to the players (or fans) totally interrupted the flow of the game, and added little or nothing. In the major real sports, there are pauses (the NFL actually pauses for commercials, doesn't it?) like when they call time outs, go into a huddle, or set up for a free throw, and then it's fine to show the fans, who often wear crazy hats or paint their faces and such.
So stay with the action -- build up the players, get into their backgrounds, show how they contribute to their local neighborhoods, but do that before and after the matches, cut to them and the fans between rounds. During the (non-stop) gameplay, have a bunch of virtual cameras, especially 2-4 fixed-position ones (able to pan and scan, of course) set back at a distance from the point of contention or payload, use a time delay and those on-screen markers or pointers with the commentary, and all shall be as clear as day.
What caught my eye was this: "causing many professional eSports teams to disband their Overwatch divisions" -- sounds like bad news for casual players. I've already been in games where it seemed like one side were pros or generally played competitive together and the other side was a random bunch of casual players. Or does OW's team-matching algorithm take into account things like that? Seems like it would be hard to do. Don't know why people would do that, maybe one game as a warm-up but do some people just like to win even if it's so easy it's like pros playing against a summer city-league team?
Someone said it was a mistake for Blizzard to try to make an e-sport game out of one geared to casual players, but you're going to get a lot more people watching if it's something they can play casually themselves and have fun with it. And I think more people will be interested in a game with diverse characters and fighting approaches, rather than one where everybody has a rifle or machine gun, maybe hand grenades and smoke bombs but still all pretty much the same. And while playing Torbjorn, Bastion, Pharah, a tank or healer might not require the skills of playing McCree, Soldier, or Reaper... well, try playing them and you'll see none of them are a walk in the park, it takes different skills to play them right.
But if people are going to watch because they've enjoyed playing it a bit themselves, or try playing because they've watched it some (and then will want to watch more), the game really needs to have some sort of "playground," "kindergarten" and/or "sandlot" setting which will, more than QP, be just for casual players, maybe based on hours per week (not total hours or level).
We call the writers for Fifty Shades of Grey and Twilight "authors", so......
You are wrong and so far out to lunch its laughable. Did you even think before you typed that crap? Listen "regular" sports works because we all played them as kids as in THE SAME SPORT THAT PROS STILL PLAY WHEN WE GROW UP, and our parents did and our grandparents did as well. Most games are lucky if they can survive 5 maybe ten years before they disappear forever and are replaced by another game, new rules, new players, new everything. Soccer is always soccer same sport for hundreds of years... Esports is utter garbage and unwatchable unless you are invested in the game itself.
Overwatch is a team based FPS. Team based FPS have been played competitively since the mid/late 90's.
Yes Overwatch will come and go but the team based FPS "esport" won't. Same as RTS, MOBA etc.
Think before typing such drivel.