Overwatch overtakes LoL in gaming cafes again, with the start of its second Competitive Season. 

League’s reign over the South Korean gaming cafes has come to a convincing end. When Overwatch was first released it unseated LoL as the most played game. But when the first competitive season ended late last month, League of Legends regained its crown. With the opening of the second season Overwatch has now once again taken a convincing lead.

These statistics come from Gametrics, a website that monitors the gaming cafes (PCBangs) in South Korea. They gather and display statistics on what PC players are playing in South Korea. This information is then used by the cafes to cater to their customers. We can look at these precentages to see what games Koreans are actively playing.

What does this mean for Blizzard?

Blizzard should look at this and wonder if they might continue Competitive play between seasons. Just looking at the Reddit threads during the offseason, people were upset at having to play only Quick Play. Several of us were displeased with having to put up with 6 Torbjorns again after weeks playing with hero limits, or a teammate that went offensive Bastion (and couldn’t play it at that). Quick play, while fun, can be very frustrating when you are trying to win. Players are trying out new heroes, doing dumb plays and generally don't care about winning. Because "it's only Quick Play". Sometimes thats fine and Quick Play is great, but when that is the only choice it might get frustrating real quick.

Considering the dramatic changes to competitive play it's understandable that Blizzard did not continue Competitive during the off season. Especially since they reset everything. But unless they are again making as many changes in between seasons this year. Blizzard should keep competitive open. 

Why does what games are being played in gaming cafes matter?

These games matter because they are an effective look at what games are popular in the competitive world. If you look at the top 10 games according to Gametrics, almost all of them have strong competitive communities. 
 

  1. Overwatch
  2. League of Legends
  3. FIFA
  4. Sudden Attack
  5. Dungeon Fighter Online
  6. StarCraft
  7. MapleStory
  8. World of Warcraft
  9. Lineage
  10. Diablo 3
     

South Korea is a good metric for how popular a game is, considering it is the birthplace of modern eSports and still has the best integrated esports scene. Naturally there are some games that will be more popular in certain parts of the world, but Overwatch has universal appeal. So these numbers do act as an good hint for the west.

And if Overwatch is surpassing LoL by such a large margin you can bet its here to stay. Which we already knew of course.

But the season was just released, could this change?

Of course it could change. But it seems unlikely. During the offseason LoL was ahead of Overwatch by a mere 2%. Now the difference is 10%. That’s substantial. We will probably see Overwatch drop a couple of points and LoL rise again. But it is not likely to be 10%, especially considering the issues that Riot is having with its community. And while there will always be some variation, Overwatch is looking to stay on top. Largely because of the positive reviews that Season 2 is getting, as it seems everyone is happy with the changes.

These numbers show that Overwatch has taken the gaming world by storm. Leaving little doubt that Blizzard is (becoming) king of the eSports scene and here to stay. Not that there was any doubt.

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