![]() ![]() Each regular season stage lasted five weeks, with each stage ending with a short playoff of the top teams based on that stage's records to determine stage champions. The 2018 season consisted of non-regulation pre-season play, a regular season divided into four stages, and a post-season playoffs tournament to determine the championship team for the season. The East will have eight teams, while the West will have twelve. The league currently features twenty teams split between two conferences based on their location: East and West. The Overwatch League plays out similar to most North American professional sports leagues, in which all teams play scheduled games against other teams to vie for position in the season's playoffs, rather than the approach of team promotion and relegation more commonly used in other esports leagues. The Overwatch League is owned by Blizzard Entertainment and run by Major League Gaming, which is also owned by Blizzard's parent company Activision Blizzard. In January 2023, Overwatch League teams collectively initiated a collective bargaining process, which resulted in the Overwatch League agreeing to waive all outstanding franchise fees. As a result, the league allowed Overwatch Contenders teams to compete in its Eastern Region for the following season, and the league saw its first team leave, as the Chengdu Hunters dissolved. In November 2022, a broken partnership with NetEase and Blizzard resulted in Overwatch 2 being banned in mainland China. During the 2021 season, in the wake of a lawsuit filed against Activision Blizzard, nearly all of the league's sponsors withdrew their support from the league. However, some team owners noted that not having live events allowed them to mitigate financial losses that they would have otherwise incurred. While the suspension of in-person events provided a temporary solution, it also raised concerns about its financial viability. In 2020, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic led to widespread disruptions and forced the league abandon its original homestand model and shift to an online format, where teams competed remotely from their respective regions. For the following season, the Overwatch League brought in eight new franchises, each investing between $35 million to $60 million. The league faced skeptics who questioned its potential success due to the lack of a proven concept and a game without a substantial esports history. ![]() The Overwatch League was announced in 2016 and secured commitments from 12 teams across the United States, Europe, and Asia, each investing $20 million in franchise fees, to participate in its 2018 inaugural season. ![]() The league uses the regular season and playoffs format rather than promotion and relegation used commonly in other esports and non-North American leagues, with players on the roster being assured a minimum annual salary, benefits, and a portion of winnings and revenue-sharing based on team performance. The Overwatch League follows the model of other traditional North American professional sporting leagues by using a set of permanent, city-based teams backed by separate ownership groups. The Overwatch League ( OWL) is a professional esports league for the video game Overwatch, produced by its developer, Blizzard Entertainment. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |