Sports in a Blizzard

eSports are here and they aren't going anywhere.
Ten years ago one might have scoffed at the idea of people playing video games at a professional level. Today, one might still scoff at that idea, but it doesn't change the fact that even ESPN has started covering eSports and there are people across the globe playing video games for a living.
But what about Blizzard?
One of the major landmarks of eSports history was the explosive popularity of "StarCraft: Brood War." Specifically in South Korea, where the game's rabidly dedicated community turned hobbyists into some of the world's first high profile professional video game players. For a decade and a half South Korean fans have been filling stadiums and watching games broadcast on television at dedicated eSports bars.
In 2005, 120,000 people filled a stadium to watch that year's championship tournament.
That level of cultural embedment hasn't yet hit North America, but we're getting there. Slowly. The eSports scene is still in its "wild west" phase, with plenty of investors convinced there's money to be made in professional gaming, just not entirely sure how.
One would think Blizzard, the creator of "StarCraft," would be first in line to pioneer eSports into the mainstream, but while they've certainly tried, they always seem to become their own worst enemy.
Nearly every Blizzard game in the last decade has attempted to recreate that eSports magic in one form or another. Blizzard's mega-hit "World of Warcraft," a cultural phenomenon of its own, tried very hard to make their 3v3 arena battles the next big thing. Unfortunately they may have been a little too ahead of their time. The idea of watching other people play video games for fun hadn't quite caught hold yet in 2009 when WoW was at its peak popularity.
Blizzard's next attempt at creating a real e-sports scene seemed like a surefire success. If the first StarCraft game was able to make it in South Korea, then "StarCraft II" was the natural choice to solidify the concept with American audience.
It looked like a perfect storm. "StarCraft II" was the highly anticipated sequel to the most popular eSport in the world and it arrived just in time for Justin.tv to transition itself to the far better known Twitch.tv, bringing live-streamed gaming content to the masses.
And yes, for a good four or five years, "StarCraft II" was immensely popular, both as a game and a spectator sport. It's a game that has launched professional careers for not just players, but commentators as well.
Unfortunately, Blizzard's approach to competitive "StarCraft II" were more heavy-handed than the community was used to. At the same time, the ground they pioneered opened the door for competitors that have since surpassed them. "League of Legends" is one of the most popular games in the world with concurrent player numbers that dwarf anything "World of Warcraft" ever achieved. As I write this column, there are nearly 100,000 people watching other people play.
But while games like "League of Legends," "Dota 2" and "CS:GO" have become the leaders of the eSports scene, Blizzard has lagged behind.
In 2014, Blizzard released "Hearthstone," a virtual card game developed mostly as a side project by some developers in their spare time. As the game gained popularity, particularly with a large viewership of Twitch streamers, Blizzard decided to try and nurture a competitive scene.
The problems with such an endeavor were immediately apparent. Unlike "StarCraft II," which was carefully designed to be balanced for competitive play, "Hearthstone" was designed for silly fun where anything could happen. Many of its cards have random effects that can easily swing the momentum of a game one way or another. This is fun when you're goofing around, but not so great in a competitive format where money is on the line.
The same can be said for "Heroes of the Storm." Designed to be Blizzard's answer to "League of Legends," "Heroes of the Storm" can't decide if it wants to be a game for serious competition or a game for wacky crazy action. One week, they'll host a competitive tournament for serious prizes. The next, they'll release a two-headed ogre character that has to be controlled by two players.
Which brings us to "Overwatch."
Currently celebrating their one year anniversary, Blizzard's latest game is making a big push to develop a professional "Overwatch" league. And once again they've encountered the problem of winning game design conflicting with compelling spectator modes.
"Overwatch" is a blast to play. Matches are fast paced with lots of action at all times. This is great for the player and this game design is a big part of the reason "Overwatch" has become a billion dollar franchise. It's a game with a very passionate community that in a very short time has built a solid pool of expert level players.
But this winning design makes Overwatch chaotic and hard to follow as a spectator and it's all but impossible for a live commentator to predict who will make the next game changing play. Imagine a basketball game with six balls on the court, no timeouts or refs, and one of the players might turn into a giant raging gorilla at any moment.
Some of these problems could be solved with some better casting tools and maybe some changes to map design, but who knows if that will ever happen. In the meantime, I suppose Blizzard will just have to be happy with making piles and piles of money.
Travis Fischer is a news writer for Mid-America Publishing and thinks eSports could always use more heroes.