Stand Alone Event License
This license is intended for distinct, separate, stand alone events. Although you would be licensed to operate multiple events during a calendar year, each event must be distinct and not part of a league or any connected series of competitions.
Competition Titles
The title of your competition must contain the word “Community” and may not use the word “League.”
Compensation for Players, Teams and Team Owners
The value of the total compensation pool including but not limited to prizes, prize money, salaries, and appearance fees paid by You, the organizer, and sponsors, including any organizer or sponsor or other affiliates, to the combined players, teams and team owners for participating in the competition (collectively, the "Compensation"), must:
not exceed Ten Thousand US Dollars ($10,000 USD) or the equivalent for a single competition; and
not exceed Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000 USD) or the equivalent for all of the events organized or hosted by you during the last 12 months pursuant to this Community Competition License;
Provided you comply with all applicable laws (including residency eligibility requirements), you may charge players and/or teams entry fees to compete in your community competitions; and
If you charge players and/or teams an entry fee to participate in the competition, the value of the Compensation must be at least equal to the combined value of the entrance fees paid by players.
Revenue to Organizers
You may only receive a maximum of Twenty Five Thousand Dollars ($25,000 USD) in revenue from all sources, including but not limited to sponsors, and online broadcast/streaming platforms (e.g., MLG, Twitch, YouTube, Hitbox, Azubu, Facebook, etc.) involved with the broadcast of your competition (whether that compensation is paid in the form of sponsorship, broadcast fees, in-kind promotion, or other form of payment) and no more than One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000 USD) in cumulative revenues across all events under this license in a 12 month period;
You may not retain compensation received from crowdfunding sources (this money must be used to fund the cost of the event or the Compensation); and
You may not receive any revenue from fantasy betting or gambling organizations, even if that money is intended to pay for the costs of the competition.
Broadcasting (which includes streaming on the internet)
You may broadcast your competition live online, and may stream on whichever online platform you like.
You shall also broadcast your competition on any other platform that Blizzard may request of you. In which case, Blizzard shall ensure that it won’t cost you anything more to broadcast on that platform.
You may not allow fees of any kind to be charged to viewers of the online competition.
If you broadcast your competition online, you are responsible for ensuring that any accompanied chat is adequately moderated to prevent vulgar, abusive or an otherwise mean spirited environment.
You may not broadcast on television.
You may not combine or allow a third party to combine the broadcast of your competition with any other competition or video content.
You must follow the Blizzard Entertainment Video Policy.
Merchandising
You may not sell any Blizzard or game branded merchandise.
On Site Audiences
You may not charge fees of any kind for spectators to watch the competition in-person. If you charge fees for people to attend an event that is not primarily an esports event, you may not charge additional fees to watch the competition.
Use of Blizzard Trademarks
Any use of Blizzard’s logos or trademarks to promote the competition must comply with the Blizzard Entertainment Logo and Trademark Guidelines.
Crowdfunding
If you conduct any crowdfunding activity for your competition, you must state that your competition is licensed under Blizzard’s Community Competition License with a link to these terms.
You must state that the crowdfunding campaign is neither endorsed nor sponsored by Blizzard.
You must use all of the proceeds of the crowdfunding campaign for the production and promotion of the event and you may not retain any portion of the crowdfunding proceeds as profit.
Advertisements and Sponsorships
Broadcasted Overwatch competitions may not have a “title” or “presented by” sponsor or product name as part of the competition’s title.
The value of the contribution provided by each and every sponsor of your competition must be One Thousand Dollars (USD $1,000) or less.
The competition cannot be sponsored by any companies that sell or promote any of the following products or services:
Multinational consumer brands or products or services related to the video game industry without approval from Blizzard;
Games or other products or services from entities that compete directly with Blizzard or ESL FACE IT Group;
Account selling, sharing, or trading websites;
Alcoholic beverages, including liquor, beer, wine, cider, and other malt beverages;
Drugs (whether legal or illegal) and any products used to consume drugs;
Tobacco and vaping products;
Cannabis and any products used to consume cannabis; Pornography, sexual or adult-oriented products or services;
Gambling (whether legal or illegal), including casinos;
Daily Fantasy Sports
Firearms / weapons, or related products or services;
• Political candidates or ballot initiatives;
Religious products or services;
Cryptocurrencies and Cryptocurrency exchanges;
NFTs;
Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning; or
Illegal goods and services.
Ownership and Blizzard Rights to Promote and Use Content from the Competition
In consideration of Blizzard granting you the right to operate a competition under this license, you agree that and without additional compensation, you agree that any broadcast stream or recording of the competition shall be owned by Blizzard as a “work made for hire” and therefore all right, title and interest therein (including, without limitation, patents and copyrights) shall vest exclusively in and shall be the exclusive property of Blizzard. To the extent that all or any part of the broadcast or recording does not qualify as a “work made for hire” under applicable law, without further compensation you irrevocably assign, transfer and convey in perpetuity to Blizzard and its successors and assigns your entire worldwide right, title, and interest in and to the broadcast stream and recording including, without limitation, all patent rights, copyrights, mask work rights, trade secret rights and other proprietary rights therein. Such assignment includes the transfer and assignment to Blizzard and its successors and assigns of any and all moral rights which you may have in the broadcast stream and recording of the competition. Moral rights include the right of an author to be known as the author of a work; to prevent others from being named as the author of the works; to prevent others from falsely attributing to an author the authorship of a work which the author has not in fact created; to prevent others from making deforming changes in an author ’s work; to withdraw a published work from distribution if it no longer represents the views of the author; and to prevent others from using the work or the author’s name in such a way as to reflect on the author’s professional standing. You shall, at any time upon the request of Blizzard, take all such further actions and execute, acknowledge and deliver all such further documents (including without limitation assignments of rights) as Blizzard deems advisable or necessary in order to secure for Blizzard the exclusive ownership of all rights in the broadcast stream and recording, by patent, copyright or otherwise.
You represent and warrant to Blizzard that the broadcast stream and recording of the competition shall not infringe or violate the rights of any person or entity or contain any libelous or defamatory matter.
Before broadcasting any content under this license, you represent and warrant that you will have received all rights necessary for such content to be broadcast and rebroadcasted (including VOD rights), including but not limited to obtaining releases/licenses from everyone appearing on camera, music and trademarks.
Additionally, Blizzard, as the owner of the streaming and recorded content from the competition may broadcast or re-broadcast the content from your broadcast stream or recording of the competition and may sublicense such rights to another entity. Blizzard may also decide to modify the content, create highlights, video, still and news content which may be distributed in any manner now known or hereafter devised, publicly performed and monetized.
Collegiate Competitions. If you are organizing a competition primarily for college students, the competition must be either:
An intracollegiate competition organized by the school or a student from the school, or
An intercollegiate competition lasting less than a week or consisting of players from 8 schools or fewer organized by a registered student organization.
Organizers may not be
an OWCS team or player;
a broadcast platform.
a multinational consumer brand or retailer or manufacturer of products or services related to the video game industry.
a publicly-traded company, or organization with annual revenues of more than Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dollars ($250,000 USD) or the equivalent, or a subsidiary or affiliate of such a company.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, the restriction in this Section does not apply to Organizers who are colleges, universities or an Internet Gaming Room, Internet Café, or similar venue.
Play Nice, Play Fair
The rules for the competition should promote a fun and engaging experience for the players, with skill in playing the game being the factor that determines who will win or lose matches in the competition.
Organizers and sponsors must comply with other Blizzard community policies and licenses as applicable and which may be amended from time to time.
The competition must comply with all applicable laws and regulations and the policies of any service you are using to broadcast your competition.
You agree to indemnify Blizzard and Blizzard’s affiliates if a third party files any claim or cause of action against Blizzard because of your competition, including your failure to comply with the terms of this Community Competition License.
Blizzard may revoke a Community Competition License if the competition promotes or represents anything contrary to Blizzard’s Core Values or the spirit of this license, the interpretation and application of which is in Blizzard’s sole discretion.
Other Legal Stuff
Your act of producing a competition without an individualized license shall be deemed to evidence your agreement with the terms, conditions and agreements contained in this Community Competition License agreement.
You agree that Blizzard may audit your books and records to ensure that you have complied with the terms of this agreement; and
If there is a disagreement between you and Blizzard that rise to litigation, we agree that such dispute will be resolved under California Law in the courts located in Orange County, California.
If you follow the above conditions, you may proceed with your event without further license from Blizzard. A competition that is being operated under the above license is neither officially supported nor endorsed by Blizzard and you must notify the participants of this fact. Blizzard may, in its sole discretion, at any time, and without notice, change, revoke or cancel this Community Competition License or revoke your privilege of being able to use it.
If you intend to run a community competition under the terms of this license, you will need to comply with all of its terms.
