Blizzard Entertainment is betting a lot on the Overwatch League. According to a recent report, Twitch bought the broadcast rights for 2 years in exchange for at least $90 million, making it the largest contract in the history of esports.
According to Sports Business Journal, Twitch will broadcast all the regular season and postseason events and will develop rewards programs as well as new virtual products for viewers.
For its part, the internal platform of Blizzard and MLG will show half of the games of the regular season, but it is expected that the largest audience will come from Twitch, which will be in charge of broadcasting in Korean, English, and French in all regions, except China.
Taking into account the payment for annual transmission rights, this move would surpass the $300 million contract for 7 years signed by Riot Games with BAMTech in 2016, to boost the League of Legends meetings. This treatment does not include transmission rights, but technological development and commercialization.
Sports Business Journal said it is not clear how much of the $90 million is related to Twitch transmissions, or what other clauses the contract includes.
For now, the only thing sure is that the Overwatch League will start tonight, and fans will be able to see the transmission from Twitch, MLG.com, OverwatchLeague.com, in the Overwatch League application for smart devices and in the tab available in the title menu.
Also, Blizzard added more than 300 skins to Overwatch for all those who wish to support their Overwatch League team. Each design can be obtained with League Tokens, the currency of the game.
