Overwatch League’s New Season Starts in April
Overwatch League’s New Season Starts in April
Blizzard Entertainment have announced that the next season of Overwatch League will begin later than usual – while in the previous years the league used to start in February, the 2021 season is scheduled to begin in April.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the league is planned to be played online – although the organizers do not rule out the possibility of returning to the LAN-format if the conditions allow it. The league itself has been divided into two divisions – East, which includes eight teams from Korea and China, and West, which consists of twelve teams from North America and Europe. The 20 participants have been split between the divisions as follows:
- East: Chengdu Hunters, Guangzhou Charge, Hangzhou Spark, Los Angeles Valiant, New York Excelsior, Philadelphia Fusion, Seoul Dynasty, Shanghai Dragons
- West: Atlanta Reign, Boston Uprising, Dallas Fuel, Florida Mayhem, Houston Outlaws, London Spitfire, Los Angeles Gladiators, Paris Eternal, San Francisco Shock, Toronto Defiant, Vancouver Titans, Washington Justice
The Regular Play will be split into four parts, each consisting of regional qualifiers and interdivisional tournaments. To ensure a level playing field for teams from different regions, Blizzards are going to use a new “minimum latency” feature. The Playoffs stage is expected to be played in September.