Funding
As unfortunate as it is, it takes money to make money and esports events aren’t exactly cheap. In order for a game to become a popular esport, it needs to have financial backing to enable events, leagues, and tournaments. A company needs to pay for a venue, video and sound techs, casters, advertising, and any additional staffing needs it has. That is a lot of money to throw down and a lot of people that need to get paid for hard work. But it doesn’t just stop there, players need to be monetarily enticed to play the game on a professional level, which means big prize pools. This money doesn’t just appear out of thin air.
Overwatch is probably in the best case scenario here, because as we’ve mentioned, Blizzard is pretty synonymous with esports. Not only does the huge company have the financial means to back it themselves, but the popularity of Overwatch, in a competitive sense, is boosted by the sole fact that it is a Blizzard game. Large esports companies like ESL have already hosted competitive tournaments for Overwatch. With backing from strong companies like these, Overwatch will have no problems acquiring funding for large-scale events. Along a similar vein, large prize pools will certainly draw in skilled players which will surely boost viewer counts.
Overwatch clearly has its funding on lock down which will definitely increase popularity for it in the long run. It’s just a matter of whether this popularity will boost it just enough to be a viable esport or as a top contender for games like League of Legends or DOTA 2.
