Image creidt: Steven Hook / via Shutterstock
Overwatch League franchise owners will vote up an updated ‘operating agreement’ at the end of the current season, Activision Blizzard disclosed in a financial filing.
If teams do not vote to continue under an updated operating agreement, a termination fee of $6m (~£4.66m) will be paid to each franchise.
Activision Blizzard said the combined cost of the termination fees would total $114m (~£88.5m).
The disclosure came as part of Activision Blizzard’s Q2 financial results. In it, the video game giant also disclosed that total revenues for the Overwatch League comprise less than 1% of its consolidated net revenues.
“As previously disclosed, our collaborative arrangements for our professional esports leagues continue to face headwinds,” the financial filing reads.
“During the second quarter, we amended certain terms of our collaborative arrangements with team entities participating in the Overwatch League. According to the amended terms, following the conclusion of the current Overwatch League season, the teams will vote on an updated operating agreement.
Details of the vote — including what the threshold is for it to pass, what the updated operating agreement included, and the exact date — were not disclosed in the financial filing’s brief section on the Overwatch League. The current Overwatch League season is scheduled to end on October 1st.
In June, league franchise owner OverActive Media surprisingly announced it had struck with Activision Blizzard to, amongst other things, wipe its outstanding Overwatch League franchise fees in a deal worth $6.5m (~£5m). OverActive Media was required to publicly disclose the deal because it is publicly traded, but it is widely reported and believed that other franchises also had their fees wiped.
Interestingly, the disclosed $114m total in termination fees, with $6m going to each franchise, implies there are 19 franchises. The league is meant to have 20 franchises. In May, The Esports Advocate reported that the Chengdu Hunters had disbanded, but it was never confirmed what happened to Chengdu Hunters’ franchise slot.
In an interview with The Verge, Overwatch League Sean Miller claimed that Overwatch esports would continue no matter how the vote played out. The outlet also reported that Activision Blizzard had laid off much of its esports staff. The Esports Advocate reported the number of laid off employees was “less than 50.”
Activision Blizzard runs the Overwatch League and Call of Duty League, franchised esports leagues for its games. Activision Blizzard did not mention whether the Call of Duty League will see a similar vote or if there will be any changes to its structure.
It comes after the publisher admitted publicly in a May 4th financial filing that its franchised esports leagues “continue to face headwinds which are negatively impacting the operations and, potentially, the longevity of the leagues under the current business model.”
Franchises bought into the Overwatch League for as much as $20m per slot when it launched in 2018, but the league went on to see poor viewership and low revenue, resulting in reportedly widespread discontent amongst team owners.
In January, Jacob Wolf reported that over half of the Overwatch League teams had started a collective bargaining process against Activision Blizzard due to what they described as high operating costs and continually missed promises on revenue.
Jacob Wolf separately reportedly in May 2022 that Activision Blizzard was owed a combined $400m in franchise payments across both the Overwatch and Call of Duty leagues.
Jake is Esports Insider's Features and Trending News Editor. Part of the ESI team since early 2021, he's interested in politics, education and sustainability in esports.
UPDATE 19/07/2023 5:05pm: This article has been updated to include a report by The Verge that staff had been laid off.
UPDATE 19/07/2023 5:35pm: This article was updated to include a The Esports Advocate report of the rough number of employees laid off.
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