Despite hosting a relatively successful Overwatch tournament at DreamHack Winter in Jönköping, Sweden in November, DreamHack doesn’t see major Overwatch tournaments in the organization’s near future.
DreamHack has yet to request any more tournament licenses from Blizzard to host major tournaments, DreamHack esports director Michael Van Driel told PVP Live. Instead, the company is focusing only on smaller Overwatch events that don’t require a license. Small tournaments fall under Blizzard’s Community Competition License, which requires no application.
But for large tournaments that bring in and give out lots of money, organizers must apply for a tournament license—and as you might expect, Blizzard isn’t just throwing those out. In fact, it’s pretty picky with what organizers get approved, a report from Overwatch website Over.gg said.
That’s not the only reason that DreamHack has opted out of holding tournaments. “The Overwatch League is a factor for our long-term involvement in the title, certainly, along with the restrictions that Blizzard has in place when you’re using their IP,” Van Driel said. “As I said, it’s a combination of things. And that combination of things makes it not make sense to run on a large scale.”
He added: “It doesn’t make sense for us to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars into running a professional Overwatch tournament.”
Uncertainty surrounding the Overwatch League has stalled out some teams, like European organization Reunited, but it sounds like it’s having an impact on the tournament schedule at large, too. For now, we’ve mostly got speculation regarding Overwatch League, and largely, that speculation has been positive.
Overwatch League slots are estimated to cost up to $15 million, with the entire league expected to generate tons of money for Blizzard. It’s s expected to kick off sometime around July.
H/T PVP Live
