Activision Blizzard’s high-profile Overwatch League franchise competitors collapsed late final 12 months after pandemic-related setbacks and groups’ financial struggles reduce quick its ambitions. Now, a brand new Overwatch aggressive league is spinning up round common hero shooter Overwatch 2—but it surely’s taking an anti-crypto stance.
The Overwatch Champions Collection, a extra open aggressive format overseen by outstanding esports event operator ESL FACEIT Group, was revealed final week. On Wednesday, the league revealed its official rulebook, which put some restrictions on crew sponsors.
Groups competing within the official new Overwatch esports league can not have sponsors which are related to “cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrency exchanges,” in addition to NFTs and “synthetic intelligence/machine studying.” The restrictions have been first noticed by The Esports Advocate editor James Fudge.
Decrypt’s GG reached out to Blizzard Leisure and ESL FACEIT representatives for remark, however neither responded by time of writing.
The esports and cryptocurrency industries have been considerably intertwined in recent times as crypto corporations lavished groups and leagues with useful sponsorships.
The most important of these got here from FTX, which signed a 10-year, $210 million naming rights deal with Group SoloMid (TSM). FTX additionally inked a seven-year sponsorship cope with Riot Video games for its League of Legends Championship Collection (LCS) league in the US, with the settlement later revealed to be valued at almost $100 million.
However following the collapse of FTX in late 2022, such offers have been much less frequent. Which may be due partly to much less crypto cash being thrown round amid a down market that continued all through 2023, however might also point out hesitance on the a part of esports companies regardless of financial struggles throughout that gaming business.
Edited by Ryan Ozawa.
