The Overwatch League's 2022 season came to a close in early November, and according to Esports Charts (opens in new tab), the playoffs were the second most-watched event in league history, surpassing the league's inaugural season in 2018.

Two major factors were behind the success. The release of Overwatch 2, making it the first OWL to take place in the sequel, and the fact that Blizzard really wanted it to be seen. And the fact that Blizzard really wanted people to see it. The developer offered viewers a bundle of OWL tokens and skins. At least, they should have; despite the fact that viewers watched over 30 hours of games in October and November, some viewers received nothing, while others received only partial rewards.

The Overwatch League acknowledged the problem in mid-November and said it was working to push rewards to those who have watched but not received eligible rewards. However, a Reddit thread posted yesterday by u/Hoho-you (opens in new tab) has over 4,400 upvotes, seemingly suggesting that those who have not received their rewards to date will not receive them. The post includes a screenshot from Blizzard support, where support tells u/Hoho-you "If you haven't received your cosmetics yet, that means you weren't eligible. Customer support is unable to assist with this issue as they are unable to verify eligibility for OWL drops." The submitter claims to have watched over 35 hours of Overwatch League matches and waited two weeks for a response from Blizzard support.

The comments section of the Reddit post is filled with people in similar situations. Some people did not receive any rewards (open in new tab) at all, while others received only a few initial rewards (open in new tab) despite having spent dozens of hours watching the games in question. Some commenters claimed to have received a similar response from support, while others claimed to have been told that Blizzard is now aware and working on a solution (opens in new tab).

While undoubtedly a frustrating situation, Blizzard confirmed in a statement shared via the Overwatch League's official Twitter account that they are still sorting things out and that the issue should be resolved shortly.

"Playoff/GF incentives are still rolling out and we expect most cosmetic items to be delivered within the next week, with token deliveries arriving shortly thereafter. All current OWL store items will still be available after December 6 and new items will be added," Blizzard tweeted." Our team has worked hard to resolve complications on several fronts and to reconcile millions of records affected by partner reporting issues. That said, many of you still find our rewards inconsistent. We remain committed to delivering all earned items."