Overwatch is a multi-player first person shooter game produced by Blizzard, and it has been rising in popularity since its release. Overwatch differs from most multiplayer shooters by offering a wide selection of colorful characters with different abilities, making a plentiful amount of different team combinations possible for every different game.
On FGCU’s campus, there is a team of nine players ready to compete as the Eagle eSports team. The games that the Eagle team will be participating in will include six players per team, and the players will be able to switch between their characters during their death screen.
The Eagles are currently in the building phase of their team and are deciding on what team roles they like best. Overwatch has a heavy focus on teamwork and team composition. Different opponents and teams will determine what roles and characters will be important for the Eagles to select.
The Eagle eSports team is currently planning to undertake the Tespa Summer Series tournament. This tournament series is aimed at college students in the United States and Canada. Although there are some state and territory restrictions, a good majority of the nation is eligible to compete in the tournaments, and there are currently over 90 different teams competing in the series.
The Tespa group determines the brackets between all teams, and each round is a one-match victory until the finals. The final round will be a best-of-three match, and each week’s winners earn their team virtual currency to spend on Overwatch bling or even other Blizzard produced games such as Hearthstone or World of Warcraft.
Tespa allocates one team captain for each college, and six members of each team are assigned to play in each match. There will be one match every week until Aug. 14. The Eagle eSports team hopes to be battle-ready by next week’s tournament or have roles and characters in mind for its players. The Tespa leaderboards show plenty of colleges around the U.S. already are ranking amongst one another, with Florida’s own UCF placing fourth overall in the Tespa series’ first tournament.
The Eagle eSports team currently does not have any streaming services to showcase its matches, but the Tespa website documents all rankings during each week of participation for public viewing. Each match will take place on Saturdays and Sundays through August 13.