Disclaimer: this article represents the opinion of the writer and not necessarily that of Team Dignitas.

As a new franchise from a massive developer, Overwatch’s potential for greatness as an eSport is limited by only two things; the direction Blizzard decides to take the game, and how hard they push play at a professional level. As it stands now, Overwatch has almost everything it requires to be successful, and viewership looks promising considering the game is still in its youth. That being said, there are a lot of valid criticisms of the game from a spectator’s perspective, and it’s up to Blizzard to address those concerns. The most popular complaint is that rather than promoting strategic diversity, the current game modes and map designs lead to constant teamfighting, which results in most fights being decided by which team uses their ultimates more effectively. This in turn has a notable effect on the metagame, because it actively encourages players to select heroes with impactful, teamfight-winning ultimates - rather than trying to innovate with new strategies.

Teamfights themselves exist in most team-based eSports, notably in MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) titles, where they are usually moments of pure excitement for the viewer. They highlight the strengths and weaknesses of teams because every factor comes into play - positioning, mechanical skill, communication, strategy and resource management. At a professional level these fights are critical moments that will often decide whether a game will be won or lost, and MOBA titles are designed to take advantage of them as hype generators. The difference with Overwatch is that no matter what map you are playing, there is only a single objective to play around at a time. This means every single player on each team is going to be funneled into that single point, otherwise a severe disadvantage in numbers occurs. Aside from the brief moments of peace following a successful attack or defense, the action is happening in one specific part of the map. That doesn’t just make life difficult for the casting team or observers, but it makes things chaotic for the spectator. The casters can attempt to explain the major plays and decisions made during a single fight, but they will inevitably be cut short because the next brawl will be quick to follow. The sanctity of those teamfights is desecrated because you cannot keep tabs on everything that’s happening, it simply becomes overwhelming.

So why do they work so well for MOBAs but hamper the viewing experience of Overwatch? The simple answer lies in the design of the games themselves. MOBAs tend to feature multiple lanes of combat, forcing teams to split themselves and fight on multiple fronts. For example, you don’t find five champions fighting in the mid lane in League of Legends during the early stages of the game because teams need to distribute their power across multiple objectives. Committing to one lane would mean the loss of two others, and that’s not a good trade to take. As the game progresses and the objectives change, teams start to move together to fight as a unit. Combined with the enhanced respawn timers, this leads to huge amounts of tension and an incredible viewer experience - one that Overwatch could absolutely emulate.

The three lane map design is not something that Overwatch could simply port over, but there are other existing game modes from other shooter games that could function well in competitive play on Overwatch. There were rumours about Overwatch potentially receiving a CTF (Capture the Flag) game mode, where each team would have a base on their own side of the map that contains their flag and they would have to dedicate players to both offensive and defensive roles. This allocation of players is crucial to breaking up the monotony of constant teamfighting, since it promotes skirmishes on a smaller scale and opens up a lot more potential strategies. The issue with CTF in Overwatch is that the nature of the game mode would mean mobile heroes such as Tracer would always be dedicated flag carriers, and the slow, zone control heroes such as Mei or Bastion would be only useful on defense. Although CTF would help the game from a spectator’s perspective, it would also likely have an exceptionally stale metagame where some heroes were simply unusable and others were god tier picks. This is because Overwatch’s heroes are designed to function on maps with specific areas to fight over, whether they are soaking damage on the frontline or flanking the objective.

A new game mode would need to take advantage of those designs in order to get use out of the entire roster, while simultaneously encouraging new strategies. A good example would be something akin to Domination from Unreal Tournament. Unreal Tournament is an arena shooter with weapon pickups on the map rather than set hero loadouts like we have in Overwatch, but the game mode itself is something that could work in Overwatch because it still features stationary objectives. It works like a KoTH (King of the Hill) map but with multiple control points rather than one, usually three with the exception of the Double Domination mode where there are only two points and teams must control both at the same time. In Domination, teams fight to control three separate points on the map, and they gain points faster for each objective they control. This means the team that can consistently control two or more points will be the victor. For Overwatch, this means that teams would need to split their players and choose their heroes under the assumption that they will generally not be fighting as a full team, although they will still be attacking and defending a specific area of the map - meaning every hero on the roster will have its place in the metagame. Maybe teams would elect for a 2-2-2 split, or maybe single heroes with stalling power would occupy each objective while mobile flankers would move between them to offer support. Having multiple objectives adds an entire new dimension when it comes to drafting a team composition, and that could be a very good thing for Overwatch.

A control point in Double Domination (Unreal Tournament 2004)

It’s entirely possible that Overwatch can succeed without adding new game modes. As both the casters and the viewers become more experienced, the chaotic nature of the game will become more natural to spectate. The issue lies in the fact that increased viewers means new viewers, people without the experience necessary to understand everything that’s occurring on screen. Competitive play needs to be strategically diverse while also easy on the surface to digest for the casual player; it’s the magic formula of why League of Legends and Dota are so successful, and it’s time for Overwatch to mature and offer its own take on that exciting viewing experience. The ball is on Blizzard’s side of the court, and the success of Overwatch as an eSport is in their hands.

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