Four months ago, Swisscom launched its own eSports league, “Swisscom Hero League powered by ESL”. Starting 1 February, casual gamers can now compete in the games “Fifa19” and “Overwatch by Blizzard Entertainment”. In addition, on 18 February 2019, the group games of the professional league will begin with “League of Legends”, “Hearthstone” and “Clash Royale”, which will be broadcast on bluewin.ch and twitch.tv.
After the start of the “Swisscom Hero League” in November, over 2,600 gamers in eight qualification rounds competed through the end of 2018 in the games “League of Legends”, “Hearthstone” and “Clash Royale”. Over 20,000 spectators have viewed the world of gaming on Swisscom TV since the launch. “We are very pleased with the start, even if there is still potential for improvement”, says Nadine Jaberg, Marketing Manager for eSports at Swisscom. Based on the feedback from the players, Swisscom is continuously reviewing the possibility of integrating further games and game genres together with its partner ESL. “Our goal is to support both professional eSports in Switzerland and fun for the general public, but also to offer the possibility of turning a hobby into a profession.” A popular sports game in the form of “Fifa19” is now being added, and the first team shooter in the form of “Overwatch by Blizzard Entertainment” is joining the Swisscom Hero League. Both games will first be included in Go4Cups for casual gamers. “We want to check how they go over with the community and whether integration into the professional league would make sense or even be possible.”
“Fifa” is offered in individual player mode; “Overwatch by Blizzard Entertainment” is played with teams of six. For the time being, both games are not being played in the professional league. Instead, the teams or players can compete in the weekly Go4Cups “Hero League FIFA19 Go4Cup sponsored by Swisscom” and “Overwatch Go4 Switzerland Cup”. Cool in-kind prizes or Natelpay credit for various online stores can be won every month.
The qualification rounds for the professional league will be completed in the beginning of February with the games “League of Legends”, “Hearthstone” and “Clash Royale”. After that, the best eight teams or players in each game will compete in group games until 27 April for four places in the final. It will be held in May with a total of CHF 16,000 prize money to be won. All games will be broadcast by bluewin.ch and by ESL on twitch.tv.