According to a report by veteran esports journalist Richard Lewis, Activision is paying close attention to Blizzard’s Overwatch League and could do something similar with their Call of Duty franchise.
Lewis said..
“Brands have been told that just because they control a territory for Overwatch does not guarantee them the same territory for a Call of Duty team should they choose to acquire one. With the prospect of having to buy in again for a separate endeavor many feel that the prospect of paying so much money for what would simply be the rights to an Overwatch team represents an incredibly poor return.”
One of Richard’s sources stated..
“Imagine the situation. You secure the city you want, create the brand, enter the Overwatch league and then all the Call of Duty fans in that area support a competitor because we didn’t want to pay millions more just to have that right. We’re not alone in thinking that is an awful deal. A deal of this size with a developer should be a mutually beneficial partnership.”
Activision do have some experience in this space with the Call of Duty World League over the past two years, but has also raised some questions as to why they would be making changes.
Please keep in mind that while Richard Lewis has a great reputation we are still going to classify this as a rumor due to the anonymous sources and nothing has been confirmed by Activision.
