Modes of Esports Engagement in Overwatch Kartoniert (TB)

This Open Access book provides a comprehensive review of the rapidly developing esport phenomenon by examining one of its contemporary flagship titles Overwatch (Blizzard Entertainment 2016) through three central themes and from a rich variety of research methods and perspectives. As a game with more than 40 million individual players an annual international World Cup and a franchised professional league with teams from Canada China Europe South Korea and the US Overwatch provides a multifaceted perspective to the cultural social and economic topics associated with the development o f esports which has begun to attract attention from both commercial and academic audiences. The book starts with an introduction chapter to Overwatch and esports engagement in general co-authored by the editors. This is followed by 15 unique chapters from scholars within the field of game cultures and esports representing ten different nationalities. The contributions construct thematic sections that divide the book into three parts: Players Diverse Audiences? and Fan & Fiction Work. As such the parts provide a wide-ranging overview of esport engagement thus disclosing the phenomenon's cross-cultural transmedial and interconnected relations that have not been probed earlier in a single anthology.