Welcome back team!
Can you feel it? The leaves are changing color, there is the chill in the air, and all across the world a collection of the world greatest heroes and villains are doing battle! That's right friends, Overwatch is finally here. Yesterday over 200 streams and 200,000 viewers took to Twitch to show off one of the most anticipated games of the year. While I want to take this time to complain that I am an outsider watching what seems to be the rest of the internet enjoying Overwatch, I instead want to talk about what this game's release could mean for future Blizzcon's going forward.
We have come a long way from the days when Blizzcon featured only the Starcraft and World of Warcraft championships. ESports had taken a back seat to game and expansion announcements despite MLG being front and center. World of Warcraft was in it's prime and Starcraft 2 was the new shiny, but by the end of the event it still kind of felt like an afterthought.
Fast forward to 2015 and the landscape has changed drastically. Hearthstone has exceeded Blizzards wildest expectations and become a esports standard. There is a league or tournament running nearly every weekend. People like Reynad and Amaz have turned the game into a lucrative business resulting in professional teams that have expanded from Hearthstone and into other games as well. Heroes of the Storm went from a extremely rough Blizzcon preview, through not one but two name changes, and is close to finding it's place among the two other two other big name MOBAs. I say close because there is still work to be done. The ranking and matchmaking system needs work in order to allow players to use ranked play as a means to prepare for tournament play. Part of the issue is the player base isn't big enough to find even matches for all players quickly and Blizzard's response to that was to implement a system that will match you with anyone once enough time has passed. This doesn't work for professional players because there is a diminishing return on skill gained playing games well below the tournament level. If Blizzard takes care of things on their end then the players will come, and that will solve the other issues. Once that happens I believe Heroes of the Storm will find itself competing with League of Legends and DOTA 2. Then there is Overwatch. If it finds the success that many people are predicting it will as a competitive esport, we will live in a world where there are 4 (or 5 if you think WoW arena still counts) major esports under the Blizzard umbrella.
Last week Activision Blizzard announced an esports division that will serve as the third leg of the company. They are putting their money where their mouth is by hiring former CEO of ESPN Steve Bernstein and former MLG President Mike Sepso. If this doesn't prove that Blizzard is marching forward full speed into esports I don't know what does. This is exciting because the more support for Blizzard esports the more pressure on them to balance their games and provide changes like the one to matchmaking in Heroes. Players will strive to be in the now bigger spotlight, and the casters and production crews will be held to a higher standard as well. In that sense everyone comes out a winner. However, with that kind of power and presence behind the competitive gaming side of things gives it it's own spotlight and that is why I think we will see changes coming to Blizzcon in the future.
Last year following Blizzcon, ticket holders were sent a survey regarding the esports portion of the event and whether or not they would purchase a ticket solely for the esports side of things or one only for the show floor. They also asked whether or not any of the competitions took away from your capability to see any panels. My initial thought while filling out this survey was that they were considering selling tickets separately or in a combo pack of sorts so that more people could see the parts that interested them. Every year Blizzcon tickets sell out almost immediately then there is a mad shuffle to try and get tickets assigned to everyone in your group. One has to assume that some number of ticket holders are going strictly for panels while others are going strictly for esports events. If that is the case it seems likely that if they two were sold separately then some number of people would have access to panel tickets that in the past would have gone to people only going to watch Starcraft 2.
There are a few ways Blizzard could split the two sides of Blizzcon and honestly I'm not sure which would work best. They could simply run things as they do now and split admission into two halves, and attendees who want both tickets would have to manage their time as they always have. But Blizzard could also extend Blizzcon to a 3 or 4 day event. ESports semi-finals and finals could take place on Thursday and Friday then the announcements and panels would be held on Saturday and Sunday. People who want the entire experience would have a packed 4 days and people who only want one or the other have the usual 2 day experience we have now. I understand there are a lot of issues with this way, and I don't think this is the way they should go, but I think it's worth a discussion. This would mean two more nights away from work and family and two more nights of travel expenses. In addition to that, I think the demo areas during the panel section would see a huge increase in wait times. Right now the people in the Starcraft or Hearthstone arena are not in line waiting to play Overwatch or Legion, but in this version of Blizzcon those arenas are closed and all those people are now slowing things down in demo lines and taking seats in panels. These are huge problems that would need addressing but it's still an option.
Another more risky option would be to separate the two halves entirely. The esports championships could be one half of the year and Blizzcon proper could be another. This would make the competitions have the feel of the DOTA 2 International or the fighting game championships at EVO where all eyes are on that event while it's going on. I'm torn on this idea because as someone who hasn't been able to make it to Blizzcon yet I would hate to think I wouldn't be able to see the Hearthstone World Championship decided while I was there. But at the same time, I like the idea of Blizzcon proper being Blizzard's forum to say "here's what were up to in the games and worlds you love." while the esports event is their chance to say "here are all the awesome things you guys are doing with our games.". Again, I don't think this is something they will do, but I think the writing is on the wall that something is going to be changing eventually.
Let me know what you think Blizzard might do with this new esports sister company, and let me know what effect, if any, you think it will have on Blizzcon.
Thanks as always for reading! Until next time,
Chris
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