When the Overwatch League playoffs kick off tonight, fans will be tuning in to see which team will proceed to take on the league's top seeds, the New York Excelsior and Los Angeles Valiant. But while the diehards have been keeping up with the league's regular season via streaming site Twitch, they'll have some new options—ones that bring their passion squarely into the living room. In keeping with a multiyear agreement with Disney and ESPN Networks announced earlier today, the Overwatch League playoffs will air on DisneyXD and various ESPN channels, with ESPN's flagship broadcasting the first day of the finals live on July 28.
Esports coverage has thrived in the era of live streaming. Twitch has become the de facto home for competitive play in games like League of Legends, Dota 2, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, with competitors like Facebook making inroads as well. But for a tournament championship to air live in primetime on ESPN—with highlights appearing on ABC the following day, no less—isn't just a major step for whether networks can get a piece of the esports pie: it's a test of whether esports needs television, or the other way around.
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But the structure would be moot if the game wasn't already a phenomenon. Overwatch, which pits teams of six players against each other to attack and defend on a series of maps, has managed to become a major player in the esports stage in the short time since its release in 2016. While Blizzard is no stranger to competitive gaming—it also runs leagues for its other multiplayer games, and was the creator of one of the ur-esports, StarCraft—the Overwatch League is its greatest undertaking yet in terms of scope and scale.
It helps, too, that ESPN has spent the past few years experimenting with esports on TV. The network has broadcast Blizzard’s Heroes of the Storm tournaments on several occasions—to the bewilderment of many sports fans—and has aired more events for more recognizable games like Street Fighter. The network recently finalized a deal to air League of Legends’ franchised league play on its subscription service. Elsewhere in the Disney portfolio, DisneyXD in particular has become a haven for gaming and esports coverage, hosting bespoke shows from Vice’s Waypoint section and gaming network IGN, with a Nintendo-themed family showdown show on the way.
This step isn’t about one-off finals and spectacles, though. Broadcasting not just marquee games but a regular season is a significant move, especially in an age of declining cable subscriptions. It's rare for any network to be able to tap a new audience; becoming a regular destination for the eyes that would normally be watching a Twitch stream would be a significant get for ESPN.
