KEY POINTS

  • "Overwatch League" viewers are returning after Blizzard shifted to a tournament format this past weekend
  • "May Melee" saw two tournaments being played concurrently
  • The tournament's AMA rose to 63,000 as compared to 31,000 the previous week 

The “Overwatch” League (OWL) saw its viewership skyrocket this past weekend after shifting to a tournament format. Last month, the League announced that they will be adopting the “May Melee” schedule with all 20 teams participating and the introduction of new single-elimination tournaments.

Engadget reported that the League's tournament format saw its average audience per minute (AMA) with 63,000 as compared to 31,000 the previous week. The new data marked OWL's best performance when it comes to viewership since the second week of the season when its AMA was at 74,000.

“May Melee” saw two regional tournaments that took place almost at the same time. The North America arm posted an AMA of 68,000 as compared to its previous 36,000. On the other hand, the Asia tournament had an increase with 52,000 viewers from 29,000. The numbers reached the highest during the finals: 88,000 in North America and 77,000 in Asia.

The Overwatch League Grand Finals 2019 event is pictured here; the pandemic has forced cancellation of e-sports tournaments
The Overwatch League Grand Finals 2019 event is pictured here; the pandemic has forced cancellation of e-sports tournaments GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Bryan Bedder

Out of the thirteen teams in North America, the San Franciso Shock reigned supreme, while the Shanghai Dragons bested six other teams in the Asia bracket.

Another factor for the increase is the fact that fans can earn free League tokens for every hour just by watching OWL 2020. Token drops were a fad when OWL was streamed over at Twitch in 2018 and 2019 since these can be exchanged for in-game OWL-themed skins, added the outlet.

Both North America and Asia tournaments have a combined prize pool of $225,000. Tournament champions will receive $40,000 while teams can earn $5,000 for every win in addition to placement prizing.

The OWL also ditched its previous hero ban system in “May Melee.” “Hero Pools” was suspended for all tournament matches, making all heroes available. May Melee will adopt a first-to-three map wins format leading to the finals, which will then be first-to-four maps. Higher seeded teams will have the privilege to pick the first map, while the losing team of each map will pick the next map in the series.

The ongoing COVID-19 caused OWL to switch to online play to protect its players and at the same time, adhering to global guidelines to prevent the spread of the virus. Here, the teams competed online against an opponent coming from the same region.

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