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Overwatch League comes to ESPN, Disney and ABC

Fans cheer as the Los Angeles Gladiators and the Los Angeles Valiant face off during Overwatch League Season 1 in Blizzard Arena in Burbank, California. Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment

source here

Overwatch League is coming to the ESPN, Disney and ABC family of networks, ESPN, Disney and Blizzard Entertainment announced on Wednesday.

The multi-year broadcast deal includes the Overwatch League playoffs — which begin Wednesday night — the Season 1 grand finals from the Barclays Center in New York next month, the Overwatch World Cup this fall and Overwatch League Season 2 next year. In all, professional Overwatch will be broadcast in some fashion on the flagship ESPN network, ESPN2, Disney XD, ABC and streaming services for the term of the agreement.

It amounts to hundreds of hours of live and highlight programming across four networks, bringing Overwatch League competition for the first time to both linear and digital ESPN and Disney viewers. The agreement does not cancel existing distribution agreements already in place, like Twitch broadcasts.

“We are turning the corner here in terms of our interest and engagement in the esports category,” ESPN Vice President of Digital Media Programming John Lasker said. “We’ve had an interest and have been watching pretty closely how the first year of the Overwatch League has been progressing, and we’re really excited to be a part of this. Clearly by the way we’re going to be covering it starting with the playoffs and the finals this year certainly speaks volumes to our excitement and our enthusiasm overall for esports moving forward.”

Zero wins, forty losses. Every Overwatch League team wanted to have a special first season, but for the Shanghai Dragons, what they’ll be remembered for is infamous.

While the deal focuses on live and full replays of Overwatch competition and recap show on ABC, there is a broad swath of digital rights that the networks “plan to take full advantage of,” according to Lasker. That might include highlight packages for ESPN digital platforms or even supplemental content catered toward fans who might not be as familiar with Overwatch.

The agreement matches a strategy both the networks and Blizzard have to bring Overwatch competition to a wider audience. While they recognize some potential crossover, each distribution point represents a different demographic who might be interested in watching the highest levels of Overwatch gameplay.

“It’s a cross section that’s a hardcore sports fan, especially on ESPN channels,” Pete Vlastelica, president and CEO of Activision Blizzard esports leagues, said. “They love watching competition, they love watching the best in the world compete at a great game. Maybe they have played video games. Maybe they know of Overwatch. Maybe they even play Overwatch or play it a lot. But they’re fundamentally looking to be entertained by the highest possible level of competition around a great game. And that’s what we’ve got.”

Overwatch League debuted in January with 12 teams representing cities such as Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Shanghai and Seoul. The teams all compete from the Blizzard Arena in Burbank, California, which was the home of the “Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson for 30 years. In the future, teams will move to their home cities, and Overwatch League will become the first geolocated structured league in modern-day esports. Owners such as the Kraft Group and Stan Kroenke spent $20 million per team to reserve franchise spots last year, and an expansion is reportedly on the horizon.

This is not ESPN or Disney’s first time broadcasting esports events. ESPN has been showing esports competitions for several years on its networks and streaming channels, including the Heroes of the Dorm collegiate competition (in a partnership with Blizzard), the Capcom Cup Street Fighter V finals, and the Evolution Fighting Game Championships to name a few. The Overwatch League Contenders Series was on Disney XD last summer as well. But this is the first time all the networks have come together for a multi-year agreement. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“We’ve been in partnership with Blizzard for a long time, and we’re rather ecstatic about taking this significant step forward,” Lasker said.

Blizzard agrees, and compares their relationship to the ones ESPN enjoys with other major sports leagues.

“Media partners are another very important partner in [the Overwatch League] ecosystem. ESPN is invested in the growth of the NBA and now we hope they are invested in the growth of our league. That’s what makes it a significant moment.” Vlastelica said.

Disney is the parent company of ESPN. The broadcast kicks off Wednesday night at 8 p.m. ET on Disney XD and ESPN3 when the Philadelphia Fusion takes on the Boston Uprising in the first match of the Overwatch League quarterfinals. Full OWL playoff and broadcast schedule is below.

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2018 OVERWATCH LEAGUE ALL-STAR ROSTERS REVEALED!

FULL ALL-STAR ROSTERS REVEALED

More than 55,000 fans voted for the Atlantic and Pacific Division starting rosters for the Overwatch League All-Star Game, Powered by Intel®. Now we’re revealing the complete 18-player rosters (starters and reserves) for both squads. Also, we’re pleased to announce that tickets for All-Star Weekend are now available.

Here are the Atlantic and Pacific starters:

Atlantic reserves:

Pacific reserves:

Atlantic Division

Starters

  • Seong-Hyun “Jjonak” Bang—Excelsior, support
  • Jong-Ryeol “Saebyeolbe” Park—Excelsior, DPS
  • Do-Hyeon “Pine” Kim—Excelsior, flex
  • Yeon-Jun “Ark” Hong—Excelsior, support
  • Jae-Hyeok “Carpe” Lee—Fusion, DPS
  • Jae-Hui “Gesture” Hong—Spitfire, tank

Reserves

  • Ji-Hyeok “Birdring” Kim—Spitfire, DPS
  • Hae-Seong “Libero” Kim—Excelsior, DPS
  • Nam-Ju “STRIKER” Gwon—Uprising, DPS
  • Jeong-Woo “Sayaplayer” Ha—Mayhem, DPS
  • Seung-Tae “Bdosin” Choi—Spitfire, support
  • Se-Hyun “Neko” Park—Uprising, support
  • Dong-Gyu “Mano” Kim—Excelsior, tank
  • Tae-Hong “Meko” Kim—Excelsior, tank
  • Austin “Muma” Wilmot—Outlaws, tank
  • Young-Jin “Gamsu” Noh—Uprising, tank
  • Jun-Ho “Fury” Kim—Spitfire, flex
  • Gael “Poko” Gouzerch—Fusion, flex

Pacific Division

Starters

  • Chan-Hyung “Fissure” Baek—Gladiators, tank
  • Scott “Custa” Kennedy—Valiant, support
  • Se-Yeon “Geguri” Kim—Dragons, tank
  • Byung-Sun “Fleta” Kim—Dynasty, DPS
  • Je-Hong “Ryujehong” Ryu—Dynasty, support
  • Brandon “Seagull” Larned—Fuel, flex

Reserves

  • Minho “Architect” Park—Shock, DPS
  • Terence “SoOn” Tarlier—Valiant, DPS
  • Brady “Agilities” Girardi—Valiant, DPS
  • Lane “Surefour” Roberts—Gladiators, DPS
  • Young-Seo “Kariv” Park—Valiant, support
  • Benjamin “BigGoose” Isohanni—Gladiators, support
  • Nikola “Sleepy” Andrews—Shock, support
  • Pan-Seung “Fate” Koo—Valiant, tank
  • Minseok “OGE” Son—Fuel, tank
  • Indy “Space” Halpern—Valiant, flex
  • Joon-Hyeok “Zunba” Kim—Dynasty, flex
  • Pongphop “Mickie” Rattanasangchod—Fuel, flex

The reserves were selected by Overwatch League players, coaches, casters, and staff.

All-Star Weekend festivities kick off on Saturday, August 25, at 4 p.m. PDT, with a series of custom skill matches. On Sunday, August 26, at 11 a.m. PDT, the Atlantic and Pacific Division All-Stars go head-to-head in the official All-Star Game.

Additional details on All-Star Weekend custom game modes, the All-Star Game format, and other fan experiences will be announced soon.

The All-Star Game will be streamed live on Twitch, OverwatchLeague.com and the Overwatch League app, and on MLG.com and the MLG app.

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THE BREAST CANCER RESEARCH FOUNDATION TO RECEIVE HISTORIC $12.7 MILLION DONATION FROM BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT

http://playoverwatch.com/news/21931801

 

The two-week fundraising campaign was supported by Overwatch® players around the world

 

NEW YORK, NY— JULY 9, 2018: The Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) today announced that it will receive an unprecedented $12.7 million donation from Blizzard Entertainment. The donation was tied to worldwide sales of a limited-edition “Pink Mercy” hero skin for Blizzard’s internationally acclaimed best-selling game Overwatch®, along with a special T-shirt created to support the cause. (“Skin” is a game industry term for an alternate version of a character’s outfit or appearance.) The gaming community rallied around the fundraising effort, making it the largest donation by a corporate partner in one year in BCRF’s 25-year history.

The special charity skin was designed for the Overwatch hero Mercy, a scientist and the “guardian angel” of the game who has dedicated her life to helping others. The limited-edition skin was offered as an in-game purchase on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, with Blizzard Entertainment donating 100% of the proceeds it receives from sales of the skin to BCRF.

“Blizzard Entertainment’s record-breaking commitment to activate change for women’s health by mobilizing the gaming community worldwide will have a lasting impact,” said Stephanie Kauffman, Chief Strategic Alliances Officer at BCRF. “Blizzard’s support of BCRF will help accelerate breakthroughs in prevention strategies, improved treatments, survivorship and quality of life for breast cancer patients worldwide.”

In addition to the charity skin, players showed their support for the cause with a purchase of a limited-edition Pink Mercy T-shirt, available for men and women, designed by community artist VICKISIGH. Blizzard also coordinated charity streams on Twitch with 14 star Overwatch players from around the world, who collectively raised more than $130,000 for BCRF during the two-week campaign.

“BCRF does critical work every single day to support women’s health and develop new research and strategies for preventing, treating, and curing breast cancer, and we’re proud to make this contribution to their efforts,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “I’m grateful to all of the Overwatch players around the world who made supporting such a good cause possible with their enthusiasm for the game and their generosity.”

Click here to learn more about BCRF’s collaborations with Blizzard Entertainment.

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Overwatch Patch Notes for 6-28-2018

https://twitter.com/Overbuff/status/1012438279969492992

HERO UPDATES

General

Added new hero “Wrecking Ball”

Several heroes have received major changes to their damage falloff:

Bastion

  • Configuration: Sentry and Configuration: Recon – Minimum damage at max range increased from 30% to 50%.

McCree

  • Peacekeeper – Minimum damage at max range increased from 30% to 50%

Mei

  • Endothermic Blaster – Removed all damage falloff from her secondary fire projectile

Soldier: 76

  • Heavy Pulse Rifle – Minimum damage at max range increased from 30% to 50%

Widowmaker

  • Widow’s Kiss – Now has damage falloff applied on her automatic primary fire (50% at max range)

Developer Comments: The goal of these changes is to slightly reduce the impact of damage falloff on mid-range weapons. While assessing falloff mechanics across the board, weapons intended primarily for close-range combat benefited too greatly from lowering their falloff restrictions. We also normalized a couple of outliers in that Mei had a long-range travel time projectile with falloff applied and Widowmaker’s automatic fire did not have any.

Hanzo

Storm Arrows

  • Duration reduced from 6 to 5 seconds
  • Cooldown increased from 8 to 10 seconds

Developer Comments: Hanzo’s new kit has proven to be a bit too powerful, especially his new Storm Arrows ability. We’re lowering the frequency that he can have this ability available to make it more reasonable to play around.

Sombra

Stealth

  • Now lasts indefinitely
  • No longer can contest objectives while invisible
  • Enemy detection radius increased from 2 meters to 4 meters
    Movement speed buff decreased from +75% to +50%

Translocator

  • Now lasts indefinitely
  • Can now be destroyed (has 5 health)

Developer Comments: These changes allow Sombra to more easily play as an infiltrator and scout for her team, as well as give her time to pick and choose when to reveal herself to ambush her enemies.

 

MAP UPDATES

Assault Maps

  • Objective time reduced from 5 minutes to 4 minutes per control point in Quick Play and Arcade modes

BUG FIXES

General

Fixed a bug that caused the group leader’s UI to appear that they’re canceling or leaving Waiting for Players when using a controller
Fixed a bug that prevented players from receiving an AFK warning for not moving after receiving the No XP warning for not being in combat
Fixed a bug that caused Competitive Elimination to display as your last match played in the Recent Players menu
Fixed a bug that prevented players added to Avoid as Teammate from being removed if that player was added to their friends list

Endorsements

Fixed a bug that caused the Team Information screen to display an Endorsement level of a player who left the game
Fixed a bug that prevented the Endorsement input from opening the Endorsement tray if it shared that input with another input
Fixed a bug that prevented the Nearby Players menu from displaying Endorsement levels

Game Browser & Custom Games

Fixed a bug that allowed heroes to deploy multiple barriers or turrets when a decreased cooldown modifier was applied in a Custom Game
Fixed a bug that caused players to sometimes spawn into a wall or floor when playing a Deathmatch Custom Game with Respawn as Random Hero enabled

Heroes

General

  • Fixed a bug that prevented heroes from playing a hit reaction animation when shot

Brigitte

  • Fixed a bug that prevented Doomfist’s Rising Uppercut animation from playing when used after hitting something with Rocket Punch
  • Fixed a bug that caused Brigitte’s portrait to show a non-existent ponytail with her Shieldmaiden skin equipped

Doomfist

  • Fixed a bug that caused Doomfist’s Rocket Punch to stop if he hit Symmetra’s Turret when it was in midair
  • Fixed a bug that prevented Doomfist’s Meteor Strike from hitting Reinhardt if he faced his Field Barrier upward
  • Fixed a bug with Doomfist’s Rocket Punch that prevented it from canceling Genji’s Cyber-agility, Lúcio’s Wall Ride, or Hanzo’s Wall Climb on impact

D.Va

  • Fixed a bug that prevented D.Va’s mech rear hatch from connecting to her mech when viewing D.Va’s Peace Victory Pose.

Junkrat

  • Fixed a bug that prevented Junkrat’s Frag Launcher grenades from dealing the correct amount of damage on direct hits
  • Fixed a bug that allowed Junkrat to set multiple Steel Traps in Custom Games
  • Fixed a bug that prevented teammates from viewing Junkrat’s respawn timer if he died while piloting RIP-Tire.
  • Fixed a bug that allowed the player to move the camera when Junkrat’s RIP-Tire was frozen

Moira

  • Fixed a bug that prevented Moira’s Healing Orb from healing friendly training bots in the Practice Range
  • Fixed a bug that prevented Moira’s Biotic Orbs from trigging controller vibration when using a controller

Reinhardt

  • Fixed a bug that prevented Reinhardt’s Charge from propelling him forward if he was airborne due to Doomfist’s Rising Uppercut

Roadhog

  • Fixed a bug that allowed Roadhog’s Chain Hook target to be pulled to his new location when he used Symmetra’s Teleporter.

Symmetra

  • Fixed a bug that prevented Symmetra’s Turrets from displaying a red outline when viewed by the enemy team
  • Fixed a bug that caused Reinhardt’s Earthshatter to sometimes go through Symmetra’s Photon Barrier
  • Fixed a bug that prevented Symmetra’s Teleporter from using visual effects with her Oasis skin equipped
  • Fixed a bug that allowed Symmetra to receive credit toward her Huge Success achievement if she teleported her Sentry Turrets

Tracer

  • Fixed a bug that allowed Tracer to gain capture point progress during her Recall ability

Zarya

  • Fixed a bug that prevented Zarya’s Particle Cannon from gaining energy when attacked by an enemy Symmetra or Zarya if they were too close to her when she used Particle Barrier

Looking for Group

  • Fixed a bug that caused all game modes to be selectable when adding a player to an LFG group
  • Fixed a bug that prevented the Choose Roles menu from offering a default role when accessed
  • Fixed a bug that prevented players from receiving messaging notifying them why they were unable to change a Looking for Group title if they were suspended from changing Custom Game names
  • Fixed a bug that prevented role icons from displaying on hero portraits
  • Fixed a bug that allowed two players were able to queue for the same Looking for Group spot
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