This Was Peak Esports - Blizzard’s Lost Innovation

[@Akshonesports]

What esports title do you think has the best online spectator experience?

[@UncannyGirl]

You are aware that the Twitch TV app for Android TV's never had that feature? The best way to watch an eSports match is on a giant high-res TV.... same as any sport. So, no... no Shooter has ever been an enjoyable watch at a pub. Especially compared to most Fighters/Fighting Platformers.

[@thehumus8688]

Doto 2

[@chicho32]

Hard to compete with figtning games due to how simple the 2D presentation is, only two players to worry about and clear understanding of what's happening to a non-player.

[@dudeofdudes]

Apex recently added a face it command center to the esport and it allows you to watch your favorite teams, map view, main broadcast, etc.

[@d4s0n282]

easily tf2, while its not popular reletively to other games, you cant say that its not viewer friendly to just watch, its extremely easy to see whats going on no matter whats happening

[@leon6sean241]

I miss the old days of competitive Overwatch- I used to watch replays of games with commentators over the video. Overwatch was fun to watch and play because of the dynamic roster of characters, the interactions abilities had with each other, and the various moments of each game that made them truly exciting. Unfortunately, the game just doesn't have that spark anymore, and I'm sad for its downfall.

[@bld9826]

Honestly the recent tournament mightve been the best series of Overwatch I've ever watched, personally.

[@Daniel-q9f8p]

@@bld9826 it was probably the most diverse meta since season 1 of OWL

[@gamist8166]

​@@bld9826hasn't the most recent tourney been like 80% mauga?

[@bld9826]

@@gamist8166 Nope, I think we saw every tank over the weekend except for Orisa.

[@pigeon_9161]

​@@gamist8166Falcons tried to brute force everything with the meta mauga comp but my goat Junbin proved that he is built different and is simply above the rest of humanity with the only ones coming close being his own team (heesang my goat aswell dude so pretty and good at the game fr)

[@tristenphillips3715]

You are a real one for giving OWL credit in the areas it deserves (and also criticizing it when it deserves it). Tough to find fair discussion of OW in general, keep it up

[@CR0WYT]

I just wish we didn't go into franchising so soon. OWL had so much potential, but handicapping talent and forcing teams to fork over millions just to compete for a game that was barely 2 years old was insanity. OWL would still be fine today if they just took the open-circuit format OWCS currently has along with the innovations like the All Access Pass.

[@nivyan]

Hindsight is 20/20. At the time it was a brilliant beginning to an eSport scene, effectively skipping the grassroots period. If blizzard wasn't so incompetent with the actual game, things would've been solved in other ways. Like the example in this video providing solid alternatives to watching particles from a bird-eye view. It still baffles me how they could have investors, a great game and loyal fans only to throw it all away in record time.

[@CR0WYT]

@@nivyan you NEVER skip the grassroots period as it's such an important part of the development for any esport, especially if esports was an afterthought for the game. Skipping that crucial period of growth while handicapping Tier 2 growth was already the beginning of the end.

[@nivyan]

@@CR0WYT Again; that's very easy to say with hindsight. But at the time it proved successful for a period; things teetered out once Blizzard started making terrible balance decisions and failed to solve huge problems with the game - loyalty kept the game alive, but that trust was lost over time.

[@ironCondor623]

@@nivyan Balance and problems were not the issues with OWL, OWL died because the money (crypto backing) vanished as the bubble failed to maintain itself

[@awyrlas]

@@nivyan You don't need the benefit of hindsight to know that gutting the grassroots scene before it could even get off of the ground is a bad idea. Blizzard took a massive gamble with the OWL and it went exactly as expected. All of the success it saw was a direct result of Blizzard dumping millions of dollars into keeping it going. The OWL was a manufactured bubble that had to burst eventually. I'm honestly surprised it didn't pop way sooner.

[@Virsu]

Real ones know it really was PEAK

[@ELI-521]

Says the ow fan 😂 most delusional mfs out here

[@casull2041]

​@@ELI-521im still huffing my copium 😢

[@carterdelaney4648]

@@ELI-521 did you... watch the video?

[@thadex454]

Riot Games couldn’t make it work for LoL or VALORANT but Blizzard/Twitch managed to make something great

[@leon6sean241]

@@thadex454 I'd argue the competitive scene for Riot's games still have a large audience, but Overwatch's old competitive scene was just more interesting to me, personally.

[@zoroark522]

Not just the esports scene, but the entire community and game felt magical to be apart of. You could really feel the love during the golden ages.

[@scottbrayton9484]

Homestands were a pretty fire idea imo. Covid killed them before we could really see their full form but I think they were a good idea.

[@d4s0n282]

ima be honest, it was kinda dead before covid imo

[@scottbrayton9484]

@@d4s0n282 OWL perhaps but im referring to the concepts of homestands specifically.

[@MatoVidovic_]

​@@scottbrayton9484it wouldve unfortunatmy killed players with the insane ammount lf traveling + living from hotel room to hotel room 24/7. Not sustainable for an entire season (but def cool nontheless)

[@exigency2231]

Homesteads would have absolutely murdered teams financially

[@LukenszMk]

I think they should have kept going with one place like the Blizzard Arena with some teams, chosen through some means, hosting playoffs and eventually grand finals. They did that a few times with stage finals being held in Dallas or Toronto or whatever. It would still be viable financially while providing an extra oomph to those events.

[@LeoZhao01]

Overwatch understood their audience but lost sight of it due to corporate greed. It was peak but then businessmen do as businessmen do and decided that they knew what was best for something they were not qualified to judge

[@verguco6051]

id they would understant they own audience ow2 would have never existed

[@DTDplays]

The opening section of this video was so funny. I love this channel hahaha.

[@magicbonez]

Another unique spectator system was DOTA 2 VR, you could walk around the replay

[@GarrytheIII.]

Loved the jokes and great commentary! Especially 0:35.

[@Guarrow]

I always thought that peak OW esport was before the OWL actually. I did my first (and only, sadly) LAN at that time and idk, the energy was different and I think the camera work was also much different as I remember some issues in that regard during OWL I think the team names impacted that feeling. The command center was actually great tho. I tried it when it was available for a try and it was fun but wasn't really meant for the pure spectacle. Still, that was actual innovation

[@azhanzhn]

Another thing that I really liked about early OWWC (and later OWL for a brief period) was the replay viewer specifically to watch the past matches. IIRC it started with OWWC where the matches were available for anyone to enter and watch and it was exactly like the current in-game replay system. Seeing content creators (Jayne specfically) using it to do vod reviews and talk about the matches after the fact was really fun.

[@thelastowlbear8110]

I was at the Season 1 Finals and that DJ Khaled performance was painful. Guy's entire shtick is he sings half the song and then the audience sings the rest....except nobody knew any of the lyrics so it was just dead silent. Was the most awkward performance I've seen since watching Afroman open for They Might Be Giants.

[@SebWayYT]

The command centre really made watching OWL extremely enjoyable!! I was so sad when they removed it...

[@yeagyeag]

I think you're underselling CSTV / GOTV. It also allows you to control the camera yourself during the match. You can just fly from bombsite to bombsite or overhead if you want!

[@bsalorsano]

Watching Apex through command centre was a really great tool esp, with how chaotic apex can get with multiple fights across the map. It's just sad that Command Centre was ultimately scrapped recently.

[@sinuhearialdo]

It's crazy to see how Overwatch has so many "could-haves" that were destroyed through varying levels of their own fault. Never was a competitive sports guy for anything, but OWL S2 was so entertaining I didn't care

[@YukioKokoko]

I was about to bring up GOTV, i used to watch alot of games that way especially when theres in game drops. I dont know if thats still a thing since i stopped playing CS in 2022 and switched to Valorant but damn you brought back some good memories.

[@sabreko_OW]

Hell yeah. Can we get more OW stuff man

[@02owo32]

What Blizzard did (or did not) to OW was the biggest throw I've seen in gaming Not even my teammates in gold/plat get close to that

[@fauxtool952]

blizzard shit the bed so hard. They should have never gone after Pepe

[@Slug_ssbm]

The first thing I thought when they signed to KZbin was “I wonder how they’re going to transfer the command center”. Man.

[@WarpSonic]

I'd like to see games provide replays of completed pro games for free inside the client and release a subscription service that lets you custom spectate pro games live inside the game client to generate some revenue. It would also be great if both of these features included the option to listen to comms, the casters, or neither.

[@gamoxu]

I honestly think that the new format is much more healthy for the growth of the esport and has led to a lot of teams we probably never would have seen in the old model

[@charlesdotwin]

That youtube contract also murdered Hearthstone esports viewership. They wanted OWL, but the deal bundled every other Blizz esport in the package. One of the most shortsighted, Shoot yourself in the foot, cash in and stop growing your audience decision in SPORTS period, not just esports. Absolutely moronic.

[@letmefeelthevibes]

Leaving Twitch was the most stupid move ever possible Blizzard could have done to Overwatch. This, along with the tanks meta sent the game into a deep grave that it couldn't ever fully recover from.

[@NoktiousGames]

When the command center went away my enjoyment of watching OWL decreased like 80%

[@vkingdk3330]

in the OWCS the players can stream their own pov, right?

[@JAxz5]

didnt know that existed, i just let the stream on the side to get tokens

[@JMalaby89]

Ah man, it’s a shame people are only coming around on OWL now that it’s dead. I really loved that weird league.

[@blatetastic]

Ow content back alive!!! LETS GOO

[@anadliv1]

the current Faceit streams for cs2 is the same but better

[@bentocod]

The missiles had me dying

[@rachillin118]

I miss the SF shock :(

[@gamist8166]

Now shooters in esports is valorant and.. valorant. Man i sure do love getting one tapped (not)

[@carterdelaney4648]

I don’t even hate being oneshot, it’s being oneshot and then being unable to play the game for 5 minutes afterwards

[@somebodyanonymous5725]

CS is better and bigger

[@downsjmmyjones101]

I wish Siege had a command center.

[@Tai-Xian]

Didn't dota 2 also offer full view point selection in client with full selection of which commentary to integrate with?

[@DragN_H3art]

you can also rewind while watching live

[@andrewhough437]

The 2019 Fortnite World Cup had different free streams for popular players

[@nemocanopus7108]

you really missed out mentioning dota's crazy spectator experience that almost have all these feature you mentioned

[@MikeysBasement]

I still use my OW 2019 twitch badge

[@MarceloCostaPlaxsin]

lil bro really just said overwatch was peak lmao.

[@Grm0xlr2xD]

Dota spectator is similar to the one from counter strike and I would say it's good and free

[@armorbearer9702]

Did Overwatch go from 6 v. 6 to 5 v 5 to make it easier for viewers to watch the action?

[@kazen16]

This is true!

[@rawnriju1277]

Nah, can't be saying this when Rocket League exists.

[@maliko4460]

Ts finna hurt me i alr know

[@lordtraxroy]

I would prefer esport more in a festival and convention format rather treating esport as a traditional sport

[@Nooter_]

Another overwatch video thank god i missed them

[@christsolos]

ow1 owl was def peak

[@Rockmih]

Dota has the same system excluding the multiple views and you get prices as an expectation on official events all for free, why wouldn't you mention this but go in-depth into Lol Pro which is dead?

[@Kevin-bt8ll]

I think timing and bad management ruined the game, unfortunate for such a loved game.

[@KSabot]

Preferred pre owl

[@verguco6051]

overwatch league wasnt peak, it was what killed overwatch to begin with, because watching someone else play overwatch (or any game) is boring developers started to balance on what was being made by the 0.001% of the playerbase, which bring us 5vs5 overwatch 2 which is complete shit. who would pay to watch someone else play?

[@ldkiskool]

hilarious title

[@TU7OV]

not another video about overwatch esports being a failure

[@catowarmeowson9964]

So, dota 2s in game viewing

[@redextop4826]

nuh, I think peak esport is Microsoft Excel

[@orieLab_]

I have no idea how a 20$ price tag could be considered "peak" please I need that liquid copium akshon

[@WingsOfADream1]

who asked? and copium.

[@Tetragramz]

You guys glaze mario and riot way too much.

[@hymenbreaker6100]

😂😂 boring games

[@armthesharks6904]

no shot this dude is telling me something you had to pay for to watch ow was peak lmfao no wonder blizzard gets away with their shit

[@sortofcephalopod8972]

the golden days of overwatch really were the best times ive ever had with gaming in my life

[@poyo4205]

lil bro really just said overwatch was peak lmao.

[@poyo4205]

ok never mind

[@ravenbirde]

shoutout to the rando that gifted me all access on twitch way back in 2019. i used to watch all the tank players pov, especially dva players during goats. i learned so much and started taking the game seriously. it led to me joining an amateur team in 2020 and my team ended up winning a tournament (undefeated!) called scrub cup. our team, the sombruhs, stayed together for one year and it was hectic but so much fun to improve and learn as a team. anyway, i like to think it all started because someone randomly picked me out in the owl chat way back when :)

[@thadex454]

New Overwatch video from Akshon wow

[@dix0nm8]

I didn't see it mentioned but in 2018 Blizzard also released the Overwatch World Cup viewer, which allowed players to view World Cup games in real time via an Overwatch Client (additional download). This seems to have been a once off though, as it never came back (assuming that stream viewers are better for partners and advertisers). I also don't think it had in-game commentary either.

[@cryskilljoy]

better days, i miss that

[@Xfacta12482]

the rose tinted glasses are strong with this one

[@gingertew9249]

I think owl using a dedicated venue to make every event a LAN was really cool and should be adopted by other esports

[@creydragon]

My regret from that Overwatch All Access was not utilizing that feature more. I am looking forward to a PPV-esque experience with that in future Esports titles. Tangentially, Overwatch coverage during this era was how I fell in love with the channel, and what the channel does for Esports. Ever since my Gold Tier days 🥳.

[@StriderPF]

i was gonna leave a comment about CS being better but.... you showed DJ Khaled funny dance... my eyes are opened

[@ArdaSReal]

Real OGs and God gamers know it was and always will be Overwatch Also love you're guyses vids been watching for years now❤

[@Akshonesports]

Thank you so much for the support!

[@evo4gplus]

lil bro really just said overwatch was peak lmao.

[@toxicfgc5169]

I remember watching every single owl game in seasons 1 and 2 and treating it on the same level like the NFL and NBA. Even if your team wasn't playing that day there were still a lot of star players that you watch do their thing.

[@sSynclare]

its honestly sad that there might never be another game like overwatch 1 in its prime and they'll never fix ow2

[@Monte_Carlo451]

Dota 2 who has this features and it is free: am i joke to you?

[@rickyspanish4335]

The ship has sailed, but Overwatch had the potential to be one of the greatest esports of all time. Such a fun game at its core but terribly mismanaged IP:/

[@chickrepelant]

owl season 2 was a great time to be a gamer

[@bentelfer2933]

Iwatodai Dorm banger

[@Neyzurr]

wow

[@AbirZenith]

I thought this would be something interesting but nah.. its just command center. A feature Dota and CS has had in game since its inception and Apex Legends has also had on Twitch.. smh. What an absolute waste of time. Overwatch, with or without command center is a mess to watch. Command center never magically made it PEAK ESPORTS.

[@Juice8767]

I play a lot of video games and consume a lot news around the industry but do not care for the competitive scene. That being said, trying to scroll through any page that didn’t have Overwatch updates plastered all over was pretty hard for a while. It blew my mind in particular when I was at work and the TVs (which are only kept on sports channels) were showing live tournaments.

[@virulenceconviction5343]

Very interesting! Thank you for sharing.

[@steviebuilds1715]

Dota 2 allowed us to watch TI from inside the map of live games in VR. It had issues, but it was one of the craziest inovations when it comes to viewing pro esports.

[@tymunster]

I'm not gonna lie, the clickbait got me lol. But you're right, the all access pass was peak

[@detuned_SEKAI]

thought you could sneak the skullgirls menu theme in there without anyone noticing? nuh uh 🔥

[@AlexValorant]

Overwatch was NOT peak esports. A casual/first time viewer wouldn't buy the pass and would have a bad spectating experience. 25 million dollars for a franchise was always going to end badly. Crazy overvaluation.

[@orieLab_]

yeah I don't know what coppium akshon was using but I want that csgo was actually peak, gotv was a free experience where you could control EVERYTHING on the spectators view with your own in game settings, also, the souvenir giveaways made it actually beneficial to watch the matches from the game compared to twitch or yt

[@internetrules8522]

I think they were saying it had a good spectating system. you like had live stats, could watch each individual hero, had a top down map. Other guy talking about gotv im not familiar with that but that might be a good competitor to this system, but the OW system would have to account for the more moba-esque gameplay of OW

[@josephreynolds2401]

​@@internetrules8522 It seems a lot of people are unaware that Overwatch is a lot more like a 3d, first person moba and the shooter mechanics are more like auto attacks than they've ever been. Wish they'd lean into it and make some of the abilities match that standard. The only reason Hero kits are so barren with forgettable buttons/ults is because the barebone kits fit 6v6 better. That other game automatically generated robust, interesting interactions through sheer permutations but now there is a bit of a void left without those 2 players. What's left in that void could be filled by an interesting viewing and a robust player experience. But Team 4 hasn't tapped that potential yet.

[@Dottyy]

2:25 blinded by super's forehead

[@sorin_markov]

I always said OWL was peak for viewer experience, despite never knowing about the command center. Match info was easily accessible, casters were strong (until the last season), observers did AMAZING (s3 onward), rosters were steady so it was easy to pick a team and stay with it, all info was centralized, and now OWCS has none of that. Very viewer unfriendly. It's a shame OWL was so bad for the orgs (Blizzard included) because it was great for everyone else

[@Falllll]

CS is easily my favorite esport to watch. Pretty easy to follow, tons of talent in casting and observing, and they've had most of this stuff figured out for the better part of a decade. Free too. CSTV is free, streams are typically not exclusive to Twitch or KZbin (there's actually a Blast tournament right now and they have their own platform in addition to those two, Blast TV which is also free and excellent). There are several very high level production tournament organizers and a lot of the biggest names also have incredible staying power, which is extremely underrated as an aspect of esports in my opinion. It's still a bit of an issue, but rosters in most team esports can be revolving doors, making it difficult to get particularly invested in the 7th iteration of a team that you expect will be completely gone at the end of the year and replaced with fresh faces. I like cheering for players, not orgs. It also helps that there are competitive teams from all over. Overwatch felt a lot like a primarily Korean esport. It's cool to be able to root for a Brazilian team if you're Brazilian, or a Ukrainian team if you're Ukrainian, or a Canadian + Brazilian + Latvian + Danish team if you're an American.

[@lupusjoe]

This video's kinda odd. CS and Dota had these viewing experiences long before Overwatch, but I guess that doesn't fit the narrative? And these weren't examples of peak esports viewing experiences. They were examples of games that have terrible viewing experiences and developers trying to do anything they can to try and change that.

[@rebe_E44]

Why is there no mention for the Watch for Dota 2? They were already selling online experiences before OWL with their ticket system and Interactive viewing using the game application itself. You could watch player perspectives or watch everyone without fog of war, you can zoom out or you can have it directed by the casters themselves. You even have a live chat with everyone else watching including the casters.

[@mefikFS]

In terms of E-sport, I would say any game that my mom "understands" I would count as best streaming exp game. And TOP 1 would be CS. Everyone understands guns/granades etc, all I needed to tell her was who wins if timer runs out and what "bomb and bombsites" are.

[@tomaarten]

some games are simply less of an enjoyable viewing experience than others. I think CS has the biggest advantage on this part, 95% of the action can be followed through a singular camera jumping to different pov, with an occasional extra pov during a 1v1. static cameras can be occasionally cool for pre site execution, but often aren't very necessary.

[@Atlas-nf2gw]

Blizzard's Innovation: Attempting to find a viable new microtransaction method

[@kuyaChrischan]

Idk man...a KZbin channel adapted to the times and had longer longevity than the video game that channel used to be completely about. I'd say you're doing a ton better than overwatch esports

[@pewtwo9876]

I have loved this game since release and still firmly believe it had more potential then any other fps (especially at the time) but it has fallen so short in so many avenues i dont think it'll ever bounce back That said, i still have a massive addicition to OW and will probably play until the servers die 😂😅

[@Oceanatornowk]

The streamer Atrioc was at twitch during this whole time has stated that the entire OWL was a failure, at least for twitch. Having control over how you view doesn’t change that Overwatch is a mess for viewers because it’s constant chaos and an assault on the sense.

[@SkimoStories]

Owl on launch really was peak