Canada’s first Overwatch League tournament was a huge success

Written for Daily Hive by Rui Yang Xu of Akshon Esports

OverActive Media continues its push to grow esports in Toronto following a successful Summer Showdown tournament.

From September 8 to 11, Toronto’s Mattamy Athletic Centre saw an estimated 4,000 Overwatch fans fill the arena to cheer the hometown Toronto Defiant and watch the first Overwatch League event in Canada.

Submitted/Stephen Kazumi

Along with an equally stellar Call of Duty League event earlier in the year, Matt McGlynn, the vice president of Marketing & Brand at OverActive Media, is excited for what the future of esports can bring.

“It’s still early days for esports and organized Leagues in North America and we believe there’s further potential to connect with new and existing fans around esports as general entertainment,” McGlynn said. “The more events we can host in-market, the more people that get to experience our brands first-hand, converting them into fans of our franchises.”

With the two events under their belts McGlynn is looking to maintain the momentum and help grow the general esports community within the city.

Submitted/Stephen Kazumi

“Toronto is one of the largest markets in North America and is regarded as a global entertainment leader,” McGlynn said. “We continue to look for ways to further the city’s position as an esports hub, by finding ways to bring the esports community events together with our teams.”

For now, though, there are some small roadblocks in the way, namely COVID-19. Due to travel restrictions, Toronto has seen Riot Games move the League of Legends semifinals away from the city to Atlanta instead. So until travel restrictions loosen up more, the city won’t get a chance to experience many more events. However, the tournaments that have taken place so far have shown that the city is more than ready to become one of the premier destinations for esports events.