Activision Taps Amazon's Twitch to Televise New Esports League

(Bloomberg) -- Activision Blizzard Inc. will televise matches for its new professional league for players of the video game Overwatch on Amazon.com Inc.’s Twitch, betting that fans of the service for gamers will embrace professionally produced competitions.

The two-year deal begins with the first match of the new league on Wednesday. The Overwatch League, which is based on Activision’s hit shooter game, features teams from 12 cities, from London to Shanghai.

The league is an attempt by the Santa Monica, California-based video game developer to cash in on the growing esports industry. Activision sold franchises in the league for $20 million to a who’s who of the traditional sports world, including Los Angeles Rams owner Stanley Kroenke and the New England Patriots’ Robert Kraft.

Activision has brought in major sponsors, such as HP Inc. and Intel Corp. Twitch will stream the Overwatch matches in English, Korean and French and will be the exclusive provider everywhere but China. Amazon acquired Twitch, which lets people broadcast themselves playing video games, for $970 million in 2014. It’s been working with its video-game broadcasters to sell more products.

The Overwatch League matches will be free to watch, supported by advertising. Activision said it’s working with Twitch on a system of rewards for fans based on their viewing.

To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Palmeri in Los Angeles at cpalmeri1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Crayton Harrison at tharrison5@bloomberg.net, Elizabeth Wollman

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