Of the reported goal of 28 teams in the Overwatch League it was surprising to only see one Korean team listed in the first 7 teams revealed by Blizzard. Initial comments about the one Korean team was that there must be more teams purchasing Overwatch League team spots from Korea simply due to the large amount of Korean Overwatch players. Korea is home to many of the best Overwatch players in the world and one team simply does not allow for all of those players to be signed to a team.
Los Angeles Immortals coach Ookz, from Korea, said the $20 million buy in Blizzard is asking for is too high. In Korea a League of Legends team costs around $1 million to $2 million and an Overwatch team would be marketing to the same audience. Also, American companies that are backing the American Overwatch teams are way bigger than Korean companies making the $20 million asking price much easier to get behind here in America. Ookz also says that Korean companies don't have enough confidence in Blizzard to make such a large professional league successful enough for that size of an investment to be worth the risk.
That being said it answered a question I have been having for some time now. Why are we suddenly seeing such a large influx of Korean players leaving their respective Korean Overwatch teams and coming over to American teams? Now I understand. If Korean players hope to play in the Overwatch League their only chance would be to play on American teams.
Another interesting fact is that the one Korean Overwatch League team that has already signed up for the Overwatch League was purchased by a Silicon Valley business owner not a Korean company.
I hope Blizzard can build the confidence of Korean investors in the coming months so we do have a larger Korean presence in the Overwatch League.
What do you think? Do you care if all of the Korean players come over to America to play on the American teams? Are there American players that won't get a shot on a team because of this? Does it really matter?
Well, until next time.
