When the State of California filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard for alleged gender discrimination, it had a profound impact on the company. That included several tangible consequences, including key employees leaving the company. Few consequences were as directly impactful, however, as several major Overwatch League sponsors appearing to back out of their support for the esports league. That appears to have changed, however, as two sponsors are now confirmed to have renewed their presence in the Overwatch League.
In early August, T-Mobile announced it was ending its sponsorship of the Overwatch League. Days later, Coca-Cola and State Farm announced they were reconsidering their partnership with the Overwatch League and pulled all advertising as part of the league's events until it had reached a conclusion. Pringles and IBM were next, with Xfinity waiting until September to quietly have its advertising disappear. Two of those sponsors have now apparently decided against dropping their Overwatch League sponsorship and have returned.
Advertisements and sponsorship details for both Coca-Cola and Xfinity were included in the September 21 broadcast of the Overwatch League. Coca-Cola had been missing from Overwatch League broadcasts for over a month and a half, while Xfinity's presence was absent since the start of September. As noted, Coca-Cola had said prior that it was reconsidering its partnership, so its reappearance isn't necessarily startling. Xfinity, however, had been removed entirely from the Overwatch League's list of official sponsors, only to be featured again in a broadcast.
Obviously, no official statement on the matter has been made by Coca-Cola, Xfinity, or Activision Blizzard itself. It's unclear if the decision to return was made based on the controversy dying down or if it's more heavily rooted in the legal contracts sponsors made with Activision Blizzard. Regardless, both Coca-Cola and Xfinity have clearly decided that Activision Blizzard's discrimination controversies aren't worth making more of an issue out of.
For the time being, only two sponsors are listed on the Overwatch League's list of official partners. The pair is Coca-Cola and Teamspeak, with Xfinity notably absent from the list. It possibly implies that Xfinity's logo was shown in error during the official Overwatch League broadcast. Hopefully, further clarification will be provided soon.
As for Activision Blizzard's lawsuit with California and its alleged discrimination, the controversy has only grown since August. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has launched a federal investigation into Activision Blizzard's handling of workplace discrimination complaints. Activision Blizzard's CEO Bobby Kotick has even been subpoenaed as part of the process. Expect frequent updates on the issue, both regarding Activision Blizzard and the Overwatch League, going forward.