Overwatch League is coming to Twitch

After the Overwatch League officially began with preseason show matches in December exclusively on MLG.tv — i.e., not Twitch — lots of people were wondering whether this would continue with the regular season. As of today’s media day the questions were answered. Twitch and Blizzard have signed an exclusive deal for the first two seasons of Overwatch League in English, French, and Korean.

A big part of the appeal is Twitch’s cross-platform streaming. I know I was pretty unhappy with the preseason streaming options. I have an Amazon Fire Stick connected to my TV, and when events are on I usually swap between that and my phone. There was no available app from Amazon and the mobile streaming experience left a bit to be desired. Between kids, hectic posting schedules, and other real-life stuff I only had the time to sit down at my computer for the very last preseason game. This, plus the mobile app, will make it easy for fans to stay right in the heat of the action.

However, there are drawbacks, too. This was intended to be Blizzard’s big shot to make esports a mainstream experience. Though my mother in law figured out how to get her Cubs games through an MLB app, it defies belief that she’d ever happen to cross paths with Overwatch League when it’s exclusively on Twitch — and y’all know she’d Bless Your Heart right out the door the second chat loaded. With Twitch exclusivity for the first couple seasons, it’s going to be mostly the people who already know and believe in the power of esports packing the seats.

Still, esports devotees are pretty good company.

You can watch the inaugural game of Overwatch League with the Los Angeles Valiant facing off against the San Francisco Shock at 6 p.m. CST tomorrow — now exclusively on Twitch.