Blizzard is starting the very first season of its new eSports league, Overwatch League, where the world’s best players will take each other on to take the biggest part chunk of the $3.5 million prize pool.
The Overwatch League plays out similar to other professional sports leagues, where teams play a set of scheduled games against each other to get a spot in the season’s playoffs.
Stage 1 of Overwatch League’s inaugural season begins today, January 10, and runs through February 10. The regular season will last through June 16, and after Stage 4 it goes into playoffs on June 17 through July 28, where top finishers in each division will prepare for the championship playoffs. The grand final takes place on July 26-28 with the top placing team scoring a whopping $1 million USD bonus.
The participating teams are city-based teams, but they consist of a variety of the best Overwatch players from around the world. The participating teams are listed below:
- Boston Uprising
- Dallas Fuel
- Florida Mayhem
- Houston Outlaws
- London Spitfire
- Los Angeles Gladiators
- Los Angeles Valiant
- New York Excelsior
- Philadelphia Fusion
- San Francisco Shock
- Seoul Dynasty
- Shanghai Dragons
You can learn more about each team here.
Week 1 of Stage 1 starts today at 4:00pm PT with San Fransico Shock vs. Los Angeles Valiant, then 6:00pm PT with Shanghai Dragons vs. Los Angeles Gladiators, and a third one with the heated matchup between Dallas Fuel vs. Seoul Dynasty at 8:00pm PT. You can check out more on its schedule here. All matches will be available for viewing at Overwatch League’s official Twitch page.
Overwatch is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
