Twitch has secured third-party platform rights for the Overwatch League for two years as reported by GamesIndustry.biz.
Blizzard Entertainment & Twitch have already partnered up to bring 20 esports events through 2018. As part of this partnership, special Twitch Prime benefits in Blizzard games were made available such as the Golden Loot Box in Overwatch as well as bundles of regular loot boxes. The two companies have now expanded on that deal with a two-year agreement in regards to the Overwatch League.
Twitch will be the exclusive third-party content provider for the league in every region around the world with the exception of China. Streams of Overwatch League games will be available in English, Korean, and French. Games will take place each week Wednesday through Saturday until June. Following the completion of the season, a 10-day postseason will take place featuring 8 of the 12 teams followed by three days of Grand Finals throughout July.
The league's preseason was shown on MLG.tv primarily, a company that Activision Blizzard acquired in early 2016. Twitch's blog post on the matter states that it will be the only place to watch the games online, likely meaning that the MLG.tv Overwatch channel won't be seeing much use for the duration of the season. Viewers will have the opportunity to win exclusive in-game items simply by tuning in to watch the games. There will also be special Cheermotes (animated emotes) custom-made for the Overwatch League.
The Overwatch League is set to kick off its inaugural season tomorrow on January 10, 2018. The league's official app was recently released, making it easy and convenient for fans to keep up with their favorite teams and track the scores & rankings of the twelve teams that currently make up the league. You can watch the league's games in English at twitch.tv/overwatchleague, in French at twitch.tv/overwatchleague_fr, and in Korean at twitch.tv/overwatchleague_kr.
What do you think of the Overwatch League being hosted on Twitch? Did you tune in to watch the preseason on MLG.tv? How do you think the two streaming services compare? Let us know in the comments below!
