Insights from the first World Cup Broadcast

Many people who watched the initial Overwatch World Cup broadcast will only remember some regional stomps, numerous production issues, and even more production issues. I would write more about the broadcast foibles but it would serve no real purpose. If anyone wants to see how the broadcast unfolded they can watch the VOD. The only reason to linger on such issues would be to ensure Blizzard is aware of areas they can improve and I can assure you they are very aware of what they can do better next time. I want to focus between the lines a little bit.

First of all, realize that the World Cup broadcast is serving multiple purposes. The obvious purpose is as a way of bolstering the fan base with some entertaining Overwatch. More specifically this is a great way of bringing in fans who aren’t already following Overwatch esports as many broadcast decisions were designed to make the broadcast very digestible for newer viewers. That said, if you believe this is the only reason behind the broadcast decisions that were made you are missing something extremely important: World Cup is the perfect testing ground for Overwatch League. It should be fairly obvious to those who have been keeping up with the most recent Overwatch League announcements, but I want to be very clear. So let me break down some of the broadcast decisions that I noticed and what I think they mean for the future of Overwatch esports.

If you look closer at the broadcast itself, much of it centered around time management and pace. In fact, the format actually lends itself to the time management end. The 4 map set has been something we have seen in the past at several events and I can’t imagine not seeing it more moving forward because it provides a baseline for consistent match durations. Another area of inconsistency when it comes to individual map duration has been best of 5 Control Point maps. The difference in the time it takes to play 3 and 5 points inherently causes time variance but what makes it even worse is the propensity for close points to be delayed out for long periods of time on some control point maps further adding to the problem of match duration consistency. World Cup is featuring best of 3 Control maps which greatly reduces variance in duration. With these format decisions aimed at maximizing match duration consistency there is still the obvious problem that no matter what you do from a format design perspective the game of Overwatch still has a lot of variables that leave the pure gameplay impossible to cage inside a precise time slot. So then, what can you use to manage time better? This is when we turn to the analyst desk to be the time management savior.

Before we can talk about the analyst desk and how it can be and in fact was used to manage time I want to talk about some other broadcast decisions that were made related to the desk. Coming into World Cup there are three considerations for how to approach the analyst desk from a planning perspective. The first is the desire to put together a desk that is going to be entertaining enough for the massive number of expected viewers, many of which are not used to or even interested in “Overwatch esports insiders”. Next, the needto prepare for Overwatch League broadcast both from the perspective of building a good bench of talent as well as building the analyst desk as a tool for controlling the ebb and flow of the broadcast at large. Taking a look at the talent we saw on the desk day one let’s filter them through these considerations. First of all, Goldenboy helps achieve all of these. He is clean and experienced. He can balance managing the conversation on the desk in an entertaining and accessible manner while keeping in mind time management and other broadcast considerations. I cannot think of a better person to host the desk; expect to see him more in the future. Taking a look on the other side of the desk I think Flame is an example of someone who Blizzard seems to be going with from more of that bench building perspective. He is a popular analyst in the community and provides some great insight into the game but doesn’t have much on-air experience. With how well he did in addition to his place in the community, expect to see him on more desks in the future. That brings us to Soe and Seltzer. Soe and Seltzer are no slouches when it comes to the game of Overwatch but, and maybe this is just my ignorant of their bodies of work, they aren’t known as prolific community members specifically in the area of analysis. If the analyst desk was purely designed to have top tier insider analysis I would have banked my money on others who have put in far more time into pure Overwatch esports analysis. So why were these two chosen to be on the desk? Let’s go back to our considerations above. I can’t think of any other possible analysts with the level of story-telling and broadcast experience that Soe and Seltzer have. They came in knowing exactly how they needed to prep and perform to make an extremely accessible and entertaining analyst desk that provides a level of analysis that appeals directly to the large portion of viewers that may be experiencing Overwatch esports for the first time. Back to the presumed focus on time management, having a desk where 3 out of 4 of the personalities inhabiting it have a lot of top tier broadcast experience means you can hone in on using the desk as a broadcasting tool and not simply an information and opinion hub (as much as part of me would have loved to see more analytical depth).

The analyst desk is always an opportunity to manage broadcast time and viewers should be able to tell when they are stalling for time and, while it may be less obvious, when they are pushing the broadcast in addition to designing the analyst desk in such a way to maximize broadcast control there was one other decision I noticed that could help keep matches inside a very precise time frame, the mid-match break. The only other examples we have of analyst desks in Overwatch esports (and taking what we know of desk usage in other esports) only use the analyst desk during very natural breaks in play. I would have expected the analyst desk to fill the time between matches but what we are seeing is a break to the analyst desk between the second and third maps. Obviously this also fills another broadcast requirement of allowing time for ad activations but I believe this is also a great time to add a manageably variable segment to the broadcast that can be used to better manage time.

So the real question then, is what is so important about time? Why would Blizzard install multiple broadcast elements that can be used to manipulate time? Well the obvious first reaction is that most of these elements have other ancillary benefits. For some of these elements, in fact, time management is secondary or tertiary behind other purposes. But, the decision to include some of these elements can really only be explained if time management is a prominent goal for Overwatch esports content, such as 4 map sets. And the benefits of a higher level of control over match duration? There is probably a lot to unpack here but I believe the benefits lie in the potential to push Overwatch esports into mainstream media channels, namely television broadcasts. In order to break into the TV broadcast space content must conform to specific duration guidelines and must include very specific spots for advertisements. Also, I think that having more consistency around time management might help attract non-endemic sponsors even for internet broadcast as conforming to standards they are used to with traditional media channels will ease some of their fears of breaking into a new space.

So what does the approach being taken at Overwatch World Cup tell me about Blizzard? They want to go beyond the current standard of esports broadcast to reach into the mainstream. Mind blown yet? Ok, ok, not breaking any ground here with that statement but maybe this is just another piece of the Blizzard puzzle moving forward. At the very least something that I have been learning being in the esports space for about 5 years, being a Blizzard fan for many more years, and working on events like Contenders, is that you have to see each step Blizzard takes with Overwatch esports as just that: a step. Building something of the scale that Blizzard has indicated with their vision for Overwatch League involves many steps, a lot of experimentation, and evolution over time. Recognize that events like Contenders and World Cup are opportunities to gain insight into Blizzard’s vision for what is yet to come.