A spot on the Overwatch League may price $60 million subsequent yr

Last week, Activision Blizzard confirmed that the franchise fee for the Overwatch League would be increasing for season two, however didn’t let on how costly it will be. Sources informed ESPN that the bottom expectation is someplace within the area of $35 million – $15 million increased than the unique price of $20 million. It’s doable, nevertheless, that the determine may rise as excessive as $60 million, tripling the price of a spot within the first season.

Despite the excessive price ticket, Activision Blizzard have proven that the Overwatch League was worthy of its hefty buy-in. Despite preliminary scepticism in regards to the League’s monetary viability, it’s seen enormous audiences since its inaugural broadcast, and has already secured a reported $117 million in addition to a two-year Twitch deal, a determine that doesn’t embody funding by its new sponsors, which embody Toyota and T-Mobile.

With a glut of groups in North America, Blizzard might be trying to develop to Europe and Asia, the place solely three of the 12 League groups are at present based mostly. The next price-tag, mixed with different deep-rooted esports comparable to League of Legends, may imply that the Overwatch League, very a lot nonetheless the brand new child on the block, struggles to search out additional funding in these areas.