After covering the state of competitive Overwatch in a recent article, we determined that the greatest contributing factor to its longevity is undoubtedly the revival of its second-tier competition. Finally, Blizzard has responded with a mid-season update for their ‘Path to Pro’ programme as announced over on Reddit. Read on to learn more
While reminding the community of the current and past achievements, the following problems were outlined by Trevor Houston and Dan McHugh from Blizzard:
- they acknowledge that the 2020 Contenders program is not ‘performing up to our expectations’
- they acknowledged the fact that ‘they need to do a better job of highlighting our top players
- finally, the fact that teams in T2 and T3 Overwatch are simply difficult to sustain
The following are the changes suggested so far:
- more frequent third-party events like the recent Fran’s Community Cup
- newly recruited broadcasting and casting support thanks to new faces
- diversify options for players to progress
- production of player-focused content
While the resolutions seem rather vague, it’s comforting to witness the understanding of the fact that work needs to be put into Contenders.
After over 10 teams have officially left Contenders, many have considered it already dead, impossible to revive. However, if Blizzard poor in some of their resources and time, they can definitely get it back on track.
Also, other regions are begging for more attention. For example, the region with the newest talent, of China, has the least developed Tier 2 and 3 scenes. The only reason why Contenders is still here is due to third party events, as Blizzard themselves have been choking the life out of Tier 2 as we discussed earlier here: https://www.esportsguide.com/news/state-of-the-community-is-competitive-overwatch-dying.
Without a supply, you cannot meet demands. I’ll repeat myself from the linked article – without new faces, an esports scene will slowly die. With growing competition from the likes of new competitive ventures such as Valorant – action must be taken or players will indefinitely jump ship.
