Here’s a fun one: the Boston Uprising is well-known in the Overwatch League for struggling, regardless of who they’re playing or when, it’s an uphill battle. So when an analyst for the Boston Uprising states on Twitter that players throwing matches is ‘pretty common’, to the amusement of the rest of the league, it’s simply too good of a chance to pass up.
When you’re an analyst for the Boston Uprising, your view of competition and the Overwatch League as a whole is likely to be warped somewhat by your professional role.
Regardless of your thoughts on the coaching staff of Dallas, I think it's pretty shocking that behavior like this by players in OWL is actually pretty common (either they have an issue with staff or teammates and refuse to play or soft throw). Good to see Dallas taking action https://t.co/9tQv61uBbO
— spackle (@spackleow) August 4, 2020
Considering that the Overwatch League has just recently been cleared for Vegas betting, meaning that there is competitive integrity and the results are skill-based instead of chance, it’s slightly humorous to watch the rest of the league: Florida Mayhem’s General Manager replied directly to the Tweet.
I'll agree on the staff issues and motivation to play, I think most teams in the league goes through rough patches between players, staff, and motivation. But, I hard disagree on the soft throw aspect, that's definitely not common.
— Albert Yeh (@yeHHH) August 4, 2020
With that said, there are absolutely times when a team is simply going to soft-throw to get a stomping over with; it’s simply the nature of the Overwatch League as it is multiple other esport titles. You will inevitably come against a team that, regardless of what you do, you’re going to get your teeth kicked in.
At which point the objective becomes getting it over with without appearing as though you’re intentionally throwing, and ‘GG go next’. Considering the absolute dominance of certain teams within the League, it makes sense why players don’t want to prolong the inevitable.
It’s fair to presume that, if the Counter-Strike scene was infinitely smaller (to the point that it is comparable to the Overwatch League) and a team had to face Astralis (pre-pandemic) every weekend, it would be an inevitable slog of getting your teeth kicked in through a series of painful matches that you simply had no way of winning.
The question is what the problem stems from within the Overwatch League; as stated, the size of the official scene, along with Blizzard‘s vice-like grip on it, is a large factor.
With such a small pool for players to compete within, and a massive gap between professional play and competitive, this bell-curve is to be expected, and it won’t disappear until either Blizzard adopts an org-friendly stance on accepting new teams into the League (implausible) or drops the $20 million entry fee (implausible).
Placed in other words, this is the bed Blizzard made when they wanted an iron-like grip on the League, and it isn’t going to change. The obvious nature of this bell-curve affecting the players’ mental health and simple desire to compete are residual effects of having a small League; soft-throwing isn’t going anywhere soon.