This year the Overwatch League will be starting a little bit later than in the past three years, with the competition starting up in April. Alongside a later start to the competition the Overwatch League will introduce some changes to improve quality and fan experience.
One of the biggest changes the Overwatch League will go to is splitting teams up in two separate divisions. One division will feature Chinese and Korean teams, while the other features North American and European teams for a total of 20 organizations. The best teams from each division will be able to qualify for major tournaments but Blizzard hasn’t disclosed full details on that as of yet. Reportedly, Blizzard is also integrating a new tool that should make cross-region play more stable.
The whiteboard overfloweth.
We’ve been working hard to deliver the best season yet, here’s @Spex_J with more on #OWL2021 pic.twitter.com/9UfnMqGboU
— Overwatch League (@overwatchleague) January 14, 2021
The Overwatch League will once again be available to watch on YouTube, just like last year, with Blizzard working on improving the broadcast after rather disappointing viewership. “For our fans, we’re working very closely with YouTube as we enter the second year of our partnership. There are a lot of things in the works that we can’t reveal yet, but we can say that we’re going to level up the quality of our match streams, add more value to watching live matches, and improve the discoverability of live Overwatch content.”
Overwatch League was also forced into online play thanks to the current COVID-19 pandemic, Blizzard is however holding out on the possibility of some offline events in 2021, but “the top priority is to keep the fans, players and staff safe.”
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