Posted in: Games, Video Games | Tagged: blizzard, Overwatc, Overwatch League

The Overwatch League Is Building A Scouting Report For Their Top Players

Published Tue, 27 Jun 2017 20:45:40 -0500

Today Nate Nanzer, Commissioner of the Overwatch League sent out a "Letter From The Commissioner" detailing the status of the league as they continue to work their way toward launch. In the letter he details how the league is now undertaking a scouting report, much the same way MLB would do when seeking new talent in the minors. But rather than doing the work themselves, they sent out a survey to select players from around the world to fill out. Here are the details they were looking for.

On June 27 we sent out an email survey to a select group of top players from around the world who can now opt to be included in this report. These players were chosen based on specific criteria:

A top-500 finish in Competitive Play (based on Skill Rating) in Overwatch Seasons 3 or 4 for any region
A playoff finish in recent high-caliber tournaments such as APEX Season 2 or Premier Series 2017 Spring, or an invitation to Pacific Championship 2017 Season 1
Other distinguishing qualifications indicative of top-tier talent, including but not limited to membership on an established professional Overwatch team

On top of this, all included players must have accounts that are in good standing with Blizzard and meet other legal requirements for age and eligibility to participate in professional competition as specified in each country's laws.

Beyond that, there were no hard details about the league, only that info would be coming soon. Offhand, this is a weird way to scout players. Traditionally, you have talent scouts who go out and seek people to join a team, which involves watching people actually play the game to see if they're legit. Sending out an email invite to select players seems like they already knew who they wanted, now they just want a yes or a no to be added to the scouting report. This also further hampers the idea of unseen talent or fresh talent getting a fair shot, because now we know the league already picked out who they favor and who they want to include. Which I'm sure will also piss off anyone who is considered top tier and didn't receive an email.

The details of the league are just getting stranger and stranger.

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