What Activision’s YouTube deal says about Call of Duty esports

This January, Activision signed a multi-year deal with YouTube, making it the exclusive home of both the Call of Duty and Overwatch leagues, ditching Twitch entirely. The Call of Duty League has 1.1 million YouTube subscribers, and its 2020 champions...

Overwatch League’s online-only playoffs start on September 3rd

If something is working, don't fix it. That's the approach Blizzard is taking to Overwatch League's upcoming playoffs, which will start on September 3rd. After the success of its May Melee and Summer Showdown series, OWL is once again adopting a high...

Blizzard releases an ‘Overwatch’ soundtrack that covers all 21 maps

Rich, orchestral music is one of the hallmarks of Overwatch, and you can now listen to more of it outside of the game whenever you like. Blizzard has released a soundtrack album called Overwatch: Cities And Countries, which includes tunes linked to a...

Overwatch League re-focuses around a tournament format

When Overwatch League's next major competition starts on June 13th, it will make use of the same format as its recent May Melee tournament. The Summer Showdown will kick off with three weeks of qualifying matches that will culminate in two weekend-lo...

Overwatch League viewership doubled under its tournament format

Overwatch League (OWL) viewership doubled this past weekend as Blizzard experimented with a tournament format. The average audience per minute (AMA) was 63,000 -- a big increase from 31,000 the previous week. That marks OWL's best viewership since th...

‘Overwatch’ is adding a competitive mode that doesn’t require role locks

Competitive Open Queue mode is set to become a permanent feature in Overwatch. In a video address, Blizzard game director Jeff Kaplan revealed that the new arcade mode — which lets players pick a character without being restricted by the 2-2-2 split...