Story Highlights
- Activision Blizzard claimed in its SEC Filing that its Call of Duty and Overwatch Leagues are facing challenges that might affect their viability in the long term.
- The company also confirmed that it is working to address the challenges, but its efforts might not prove fruitful.
- Both eSport Leagues have not attracted as much attention in recent years as games like CS: GO and Valorant.
Activision Blizzard has confirmed in its recent SEC Filing that its Call of Duty and Overwatch Pro Leagues are facing challenges that might affect their longevity. Activision further added that it is working to address these challenges; however, the company is unsure if it will be successful in its efforts.
Activision stated in the filing,
Our collaborative arrangements for our professional esports leagues (i.e., the Overwatch League and the Call of Duty League) continue to face headwinds which are negatively impacting the operations and, potentially, the longevity of the leagues under the current business model. We continue to work to address these challenges, which could result in significant costs, and such efforts may prove unsuccessful.”
Furthermore, it is important to note that companies must include all the possibilities in their security filings, even those that are the least bit remotely possible and might not even occur at all. Despite that, these eSports leagues have faced a fair amount of obstacles since they were first announced. The Overwatch League was able to get some of its momentum back with the release of Overwatch 2, but it still isn’t able to fulfill the initial expectations.
The Overwatch League was announced in 2016, while the Call of Duty League came a few years afterward in 2019. Both eSports Leagues were negatively affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and then because of the revelations of sexual harassment and discrimination at Activision Blizzard.
Both these major events also lost many sponsors during these years, and ensuring that these eSport leagues return to their former glory is a challenge that Activision Blizzard must face head-on. Additionally, the filing also revealed that Activision Blizzard is currently working towards bringing the Warcraft franchise to mobile devices with Warcraft Arclight Rumble.
The aforementioned action-strategy game was announced last year in May and is currently under development. Warcraft Arclight Rumble occurs within the universe and features single-player campaigns and PVP battles.
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