Activision Blizzard’s high-profile Overwatch League franchise competition collapsed at the end of last year after pandemic-related setbacks and the teams’ economic struggles undermined the team’s ambitions. Now a new Overwatch league is emerging around the popular hero shooter Overwatch 2, but it’s taking an anti-crypto stance.
The Overwatch Champions Series, a more open competitive format overseen by prominent esports tournament operator ESL FACEIT Group, became unveiled last week. The league announced this on Wednesday official rule bookwhich placed some restrictions on team sponsors.
Teams competing in the official new Overwatch esports league cannot have sponsors associated with “cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrency exchanges,” as well as NFTs and “artificial intelligence/machine learning.” The limitations were spotted first Through The Esports Lawyer editor James Fudge.
Declutter‘s GG reached out to representatives from Blizzard Entertainment and ESL FACEIT for comment, but neither responded as of press time.
The esports and cryptocurrency industries have have largely been intertwined in recent years while crypto companies flooded teams and leagues with valuable sponsorships.
The largest of these came from FTX, which is a 10-year naming rights deal worth $210 million with Team SoloMid (TSM). FTX also signed a seven-year sponsorship deal with Riot Games for the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) competition in the United States, with it later revealed that the agreement valued at nearly $100 million.
But after FTX’s collapse in late 2022, such deals have been less common. That could be partly due to less cryptocurrency being thrown around in a down market that continued into 2023, but could also indicate hesitation among esports companies. despite economic struggles in the gaming industry.
Edited by Ryan Ozawa.