Franchising, homesteads, and regionalisation – Will the Activision-Blizzard model kill esports?

PREFACE

This blog has been written as a university assignment about arenas and possible issues surrounding them.

With the announcement of the Overwatch League (OWL) in 2016 (Hough, 2016), Activision-Blizzard became the first esports organiser to follow the traditional sports model of localisation as a tool for fan growth and participation. The OWL paired teams with cities around the world, such as the San Francisco Shock or London Spitfires, in an attempt to allow new fans a way into the scene. This premise is easy to follow, and as mentioned this has been a very successful technique for traditional sports. Blizzard then went on to announce the use of homestead events, where teams would use local venues to host their own Local Area Network (LAN) events which would be the next step for those new fans to participate in (Wolf, 2019). The idea behind homesteads again follows the traditional sports model of teams having their own stadium in their hometown and would then play both home and away games at other team’s venues. Whilst the premise is sound, there are certain issues which arise from using the localisation franchise method.

The main issue with localisation is that it can cause fans to become defined and divided by where they are from. The risk is that toxic cult-like fans ostracize others which are not from the town or city where a team is based and as such fan bases become unhealthy and uninviting for new members. The issue is that it seems like Activision-Blizzard is looking directly at the likes of the NFL and NBA and believe using their method will create success, but esports transcends borders in a way no traditional sport does (Sannomiya, 2020). Gamers are not locked into in-person events; they can continue to play online even if physical events cease to exist (Smith, 2020). As such, creating borders seems extremely counter-intuitive.

The homestead events only continue to create issues. Localised events will go further in disconnecting fans. Those who cannot afford to travel may sadly become trapped into supporting their local team just for ease. Whilst teams will eventually travel to other homesteads, the above supporters become away fans in their own towns and so do not get the true home fan experience which the homesteads were intended to offer. This issue also may be further supported by the idea of differences in culture creating fanbase divides. We already see in sports culture that different countries prefer different sports due to factors such as geographical conditions (Song and Zhang, 2018). In terms of localised teams and events, it may be hard for fans to follow teams with different cultural approaches or travel to countries which practice different social norms.

Whilst one would imagine fans would be the most important stake holder in a scene – after all they drive the viewership of the scene – it appears Activision-Blizzard are more bothered about professionalism and potential sponsors. As shown above, localisation will only act to divide fans in one of the most global industries in the world. However, it must be noted that sponsorships and investment may be the best way for the scene to grow. Ströh found that “sponsors... are the most important financial pillars and key drivers of esports”, suggesting that the approach towards structure and professionalism seen with Activision-Blizzard is actually the next step for esports growth (2017). Thus, the question falls onto which stake holder does Activision-Blizzard put more effort into pleasing, however whether that is the right choice is beyond the scope of this piece. Ultimately organisations will always work as businesses first and creating financial growth will always be the goal of those businesses. Attracting both endemic and non-endemic sponsors alike will lead to bigger reinvestments into the leagues themselves. Using structure through the localisation of teams and homestead events allows potential sponsors multiple brands to buy in to and support, thus increasing what Activision-Blizzard has to offer (Summerley, 2020). If we take an example like football, the Premier League has its own sponsors whilst so do the teams. These sponsors can attach to different areas such as the broadcast, the team kits, or the stadiums to name a few. This may be the way we see esports grow if more organisers follow in Activision-Blizzard’s footsteps.

Conclusively, as organisers move to grow their own scenes, some stake holders may ultimately suffer. Organisers will always have to balance conflicting interests and make decisions that they believe will grow their own scene. Whilst this piece acted to suggest potential issues with Activision-Blizzard’s use of homestead events, it is worth noting these points are purely speculative. With the current world pandemic, the OWL never got to truly test the homestead events and so only time will tell if the issues put forward here will be present.

WORD COUNT – 782.

REFERENCES

Hough, B. (2016) ‘Blizzard Announces Overwatch League’, Bleacher Report, November 4th. Available at https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2674043-blizzard-announces-overwatch-league (Accessed: 12th December 2020).

Sannomiya, A. (2020) Setting a Course for Continued Growth: The Localization and Monetization of Esports.

Smith, S. (2020) ‘A pandemic proved that esports is more vital than ever for entertainment | Opinion’, gameindustry.biz, April 7th. Available at https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-04-01-a-pandemic-proved-that-esports-is-more-vital-than-ever-for-entertainment-opinion (Accesses: 5th April 2020).

Song, M. and Zhang, Y. (2017) Research on the Relationship between Geographical Factors, Sports and Culture. Advances in Physical Education, 8(1), pp.66-70.

Ströh, J.H.A. (2017) The eSports market and eSports sponsoring. Tectum Wissenschaftsverlag.

Summerley, R. (2020) The development of sports: A comparative analysis of the early institutionalization of traditional sports and E-sports. Games and Culture, 15(1), pp.51-72.

Wolf, J. (2019) ‘Overwatch League reveals homestand format for 2020 season’, ESPN, July 16th. Available at https://www.espn.com/esports/story/_/id/27198650/overwatch-league-reveals-homestand-format-2020-season (accessed: 5th April 2020).