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Corporations appear hesitant to open their wallets.
It’s a mere two months until the fifth season of Overwatch League kicks off. The inaugural match is being dubbed «The Battle for Texas» and will see Dallas Fuel and Houston Outlaws duke it out in the sport’s first live, in-person event since early 2020. It’ll also mark the debut of Overwatch 2, which makes the whole thing feel like a huge bloody deal.
But with just over six weeks to go, Activision Blizzard is still finding itself without a single sponsor for the tournament, according to the Washington Post. The league lost major sponsors when a lawsuit was filed last year, detailing harrowing allegations of sexual assault and harassment within the company.
Huge names like Coca-Cola, Kellogg’s and State Farm halted their advertising partnerships last summer and none of them intends to cough up the cash this year, the Post says. The companies declined to comment if the ongoing allegations were a factor in the decision-making. Comcast, a sponsor for the last season’s League and the owner of OWL team Philidelphia Fusion, also confirmed it doesn’t plan on sponsoring the league this year. There’s no word from T-Mobile, another large corporation that pulled its sponsorship last year, but it can be safely assumed it won’t be making a financial return.
Mark your calendars, our #OWL2022 season schedule is out! 📅Check out when your favorite team plays here: https://t.co/9QqL9NNO0L pic.twitter.com/lI3iTyqqT9March 11, 2022
Head of Overwatch League Sean Miller said there are ongoing discussions with potential partners, both past and present. «Our plans for the season have been in the works for some time now, and we look to amplify those plans, obviously, with any potential partner,» he said.
Pro players have had the chance to give Overwatch 2 a try ahead of the big tournament. The sequel has switched up team comps, knocking a tank off and bringing the game to a 5v5 format. It caused a bit of a rumble when the change was first announced, so it’ll be interesting to see how the players have settled into the new setup. But if the league fails to snag a sponsor this year, it could very well spell bad news for its future.
A fresh writer in the industry, Mollie has been taken under PC Gamer’s RGB-laden wing, making sure she doesn’t get up to too much mischief on the site. She’s not quite sure what a Command & Conquer is, but she can rattle on for hours about all the obscure rhythm games and strange MMOs from the 2000s. She’s been cooking up all manner of news, previews and features while she’s been here, but especially enjoys when she gets to write about Final Fantasy, Persona, The Sims, and whatever other game she’s currently hopelessly fixated on. There’s a good chance she’s boring another PC Gamer writer about her latest obsession as we speak.
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