The “upset” at Gamescom
Overwatch had a successful launch, and we've already seen quite a few interesting tournaments. Not too long ago we witnessed the first big Overwatch LAN competition when the ESL Atlantic Showdown took place at gamescom. Before that, EnVyUs was the clear Overwatch giant to take down. They boasted a 52 game win streak, great individual skill and impressive team work. But EnVyUs could not really live up to their expectations this time, and after gamescom people weren't talking about the great American team, but the “underdog” European team: Rogue.
A lot of people would disagree and question my choice of calling Rogue “underdog." Sure, they're an undoubtedly strong team. Perhaps not with the same finesse and sharpness that EnVy possesses, but more rugged, blessed with sheer willpower and strength, and they really did deserve the gamescom title. The reason I'm calling them underdogs is only because no one expected them to actually win the tournament. I heard talk about EnVyUs, (of course) Cloud9 and REUNITED mostly. And even though I've now mentioned two North American and two European teams, from gamescom one region emerged as clear winners.
EU > NA (at least for now)
The North American scene has always been more popular. Thanks to strong figures in the scene from EnVy and Cloud9, NA has been the shining star in the Overwatch sky (and I’ve got to mention that streamers like Seagull, Moon-Moon and Ster surely help the NA fan dominance even though two of them aren’t pro players). But that changed. REUNITED and Rogue put on a forceful showing in Germany, knocking out some of the fan favorites. Not only that, but the NA team that made it the furthest was Fnatic: A team with only half its roster being American. So now the question comes down to if the Europeans were only strong on home turf, or if they can continue to show their strength regardless of the conditions.
A chance for the North Americans to take revenge will come soon enough. The high stakes Overwatch Open by FaceIt and ELEAGUE will have its final stages at the end of September. (More information about that can be found here.) With the $300.000 prize pool (I know this is said a lot but it's especially true this time), the teams will surely bring their a-game.
We've got to talk about the World Cup elephant in the room...
People were excited at the thought of what could happen at Blizzcon. So when Blizzard announced that their first big Overwatch tournament would be the world cup, many were disappointed. I have to admit, so was I. My first reaction was “...the what now?” and then I spent a couple of hours trying to think about this decision. From Blizzards standpoint I can see why: It's safe, it's casual and it involves the Overwatch community in a way that a “real” tournament probably wouldn't be able to. We got to decide who would play at Blizzcon. That's pretty cool...
But on the other hand I can't help but feel disappointed. This was Blizzard's chance to start off something big, something like Riot has done with League of Legends or Valve has done with Counter Strike and Dota. ESL, FaceIt and companies/organizations alike can do a lot of work, but at the end of the day Blizzard is the company in charge of the game and they have immense talent and resources to work with. So even now, the future is a little unclear in regards to what Blizzard want their game to become.
An active community
Even though Blizzard hasn't shown their game plan yet, the community keeps doing its own thing. Recently we've been talking a lot about how the Nordic and Asian scenes are going strong, with multiple tournaments to try and get the communities engaged. Then we saw a great comeback two weeks ago when GosuGamers' own weeklies started up after a short break. The tournament scene is in no way lacking at the moment, but I still can't shake this feeling of doubt. After FaceIt and ELEAGUEs Overwatch Open is done, then what? We had the announcements for both Atlantic Showdown and Overwatch Open pretty close to each other, so the hype went through the roof. But now… *imagine McCree tumbleweed here* I might just be greedy, but since Overwatch is still fairly new it needs to keep steady momentum to not fall. Add to that the fact that some other scenes might be on the downslope at the moment, Overwatch can gain “free” viewers or participants from that. After all, one man's loss is another man's gain!
So what do I want? What am I looking for? Well, another big tournament would be great. It doesn't have to be now, but at least a hint or announcement. My first big wish is for Dreamhack to pick up Overwatch. Not only because it would likely be in Europe (totally not biased) but because it's a great, big, gaming fiesta. We know that if we get Overwatch at Dreamhack it will be an event well taken care of, and with great exposure. Other than that, how about PAX? Or Overwatch’s maybe biggest supporter ESL, will probably give us more eSports-candy if we give them some time to recover from their last event.
At the end of the day, we should be happy with how things are playing out for Overwatch. There's a few things that are still on the wish list, but the tournament scene in general is busy and growing. If you have any thoughts on this subject, feel free to leave a comment below.
One of Overwatch’s biggest strengths is its community, and with that comes great responsibilities.
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