Week #1 The Fall of Overwatch Esports

One of the newest and largest professional Esports league (The Overwatch League) has just moved from Twitch TV’s streaming service to YouTubes gaming streaming service called Youtube Gaming. Blizzard and Activision, are the companies that authorized this transition from Twitch to Youtube. This is a huge change because for the past two years of production, the league has been streamed on Twitch, and for the third season they have full moved to YouTube Gaming. The controversies surrounding this is that Twitch is a gaming friendly and solely oriented platform. YouTube is a platform for all entertainments including gaming, but not specifically which is making viewers uneasy about the platform move. YouTube also does not have as friendly of an interface as Twitch does. Twitch has multiple partnerships that allow viewers to gain rewards in the actual game from watching the stream and a friendlier chat that you can type in while watching. In the other hand, YouTube does not have rewards which makes viewers feel less enticed to view the event. Also, their chat system is more bland and has less enjoyable options such as funny emotes and colored chat. Essentially, this transfer has created a divide in the Overwatch Esports community and could potentially bring about the end of The Overwatch Esports.

Links: https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/27/21082612/youtube-blizzard-activision-esports-leagues-twitch-live-streaming