Overwatch League's Virtual Goods Makes an Obscene Amount of Money

Yesterday, we reported the news that Twitch was introducing a virtual currency system to its Overwatch League broadcasts, in the hopes of getting more fans involved – and allowing them to unlock goods within the game, including exclusive skins.

Suffice to say, that program has taken off like a rocket. Dot eSports recently reported that the first night of the program has performed better than expected, with users buying up a record amount of Bits (Twitch's virtual goods) and cheering on players while earning exclusive goods.

The total of Bits purchased were around 9,800,000, equating to about $121,243 in profits the first night alone. This mainly came from players interested in unlocking exclusive emotes and in-game skins as they cheer on their favorite teams.

Not only that, but steady progress is being made towards unlocking universal goals for fans. By purchasing 10 million bits, fans have the ability to unlock a special skin. However, the one that they really want, the Overwatch League Tracer skin, won't unlock until it reaches 40 million bits. However, that shouldn't take long to unlock – a few more nights of play and it should be available.

As far as team rankings with bits, the Dallas Fuel managed to pass the one million Bit mark first, and they still have the lead over other teams with nearly two million Bits. Keep in mind, though, that the money doesn't go back to the individual teams, but rather Twitch and the Overwatch League itself, as part of their partnership.

It's a little hard to see how successful the program will be in the long-term – this was just the introductory period, after all – but it appears to be a hit for now, with fans trying to earn exclusive goodies. More than likely, Twitch and the Overwatch League will continue adding them as time goes on, in an effort to keep the Bits flowing in.

Oh, and you don't necessarily need to buy Bits either – they can be earned by watching ads during the broadcasts. You know, in case you want to save a little money.

Overwatch is available now for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.