The inaugural season for Overwatch League begins today pinning 12 teams from around the world against each other in Blizzard Entertainment's popular hero shooter. From now until this summer, you will be able to watch these teams compete:
- Boston Uprising (Kraft Group)
- Dallas Fuel (Team Envy)
- Florida Mayhem (Misfits)
- Houston Outlaws (OpTic Gaming)
- London Spitfire (Cloud9)
- Los Angeles Gladiators (Stan and Josh Kroenke)
- Los Angeles Valiant (Immortals)
- New York Excelsior (Jeff Wilpon and SterlingVC)
- Philadelphia Fusion (Comcast Spectacor)
- San Francisco Shock (NRG eSports)
- Seoul Dynasty (Kevin Chou)
- Shanghai Dragons (NetEase)
Initially announced last year, The Overwatch League is the first worldwide esports organization with teams representing a specific city. CEO and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment Mike Morhaime discuss this facet as well as its potential influence going forward:
“The Overwatch League was created to deliver an awesome and unique experience for players, teams, and fans. With 12 first-class teams representing major cities from Asia, Europe, and North America, we’re confident that the inaugural season of the league is going to redefine what people expect from esports—and be a giant celebration of the Overwatch® community as a whole.”
Every match from the Overwatch League's first season will take place at Blizzard Arena Los Angeles in Burbank, California until June, with playoffs and finals planned for July.
Those who want to represent their favorite team are in luck. Overwatch League uniforms are available in-game for every team and hero. Players who log-in between now and February 13th, 2018 will be granted with 100 League Tokens — a new currency in Overwatch — that is enough to pick one of these skins up. 50% of the revenue made from these uniforms will go into a shared pool for the 12 teams.
Those interested can watch the Overwatch League on Twitch — which was announced as the competition's exclusive streaming platform — MLG.com, the MLG app (available on iOS and Android), OverwatchLeague.com and its companion app which was released on Monday. Additionally, an Overwatch League tab will be accessible on the Battle.net desktop app. Viewers in China will use ZhanQi TV, NetEase CC, and Panda TV to watch the matches; the services will provide live streams, VOD, and more.
The first match starts today at 4pm PST with the San Francisco Shock and the Los Angeles Valiant kicking off the season.