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As much as I love watching competitive Overwatch, I feel like something would be missing if there wasn't any commentary so I wanna know if I'm missing out on it by using the World Cup viewer.

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over 5 years ago - /u/Blizz_JeffKaplan - Direct link

Unfortunately, this early version of the viewer doesn't include any of the elements from the broadcast (commentary, play-by-play, analysis etc.). We really want to include features like that in the future.

The main goal of this world cup test is to make sure the technology works at scale and to collect feedback for future feature iterations. Seeing the requests for the broadcast incorporated is refreshing because it aligns with our instincts.

The big next steps after this test (and I really want to re-iterate that this weekend is really a test, a true beta) are:

  • make it so that the viewer does not require a separate client download
  • get it working on console
  • get replays working for individual players, not just sanctioned events (this is the really big feature that will benefit every single OW player)

All of these things are pretty large tasks but we've been working on them for months (some for over a year). We hope there are a lot of side benefits along the way, like the possibility of the humble beginnings of a match history once we get individual replays going. The road map is months of work so we're trying to manage expectations. We want these features badly and we're dedicated to making them happen. Sorry things don't move as fast as we would all like sometimes but I am proud of how hard the team is working to make this stuff happen and believe they are moving as fast as they can considering the technical challenges before them.