Developer Blizzard Entertainment announced the Overwatch League in 2016, hosting the inaugural season in 2018. The league has had its ups and downs over the years but ran into several roadblocks when the league transitioned to Overwatch 2. With increasing difficulties in bringing in viewers, the league made several changes over the past year. However, the league has lost at least two teams ahead of the supposed start of Season 6, with the Toronto Defiant announcing today that it was leaving the OWL. Following Toronto’s announcement, Blizzard has seemingly confirmed that the Overwatch League is no more.
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Blizzard made its official statement to GGRecon, saying, “We are transitioning from the Overwatch League and evolving competitive Overwatch in a new direction. We are grateful to everyone who made OWL possible and remain focused on building our vision of a revitalized esports program. We are excited to share details with you all in the near future.”
From that, it’s clear that the Overwatch League won’t be happening any time soon. At least, it won’t be anything like what fans are used to. GGRecon claims that its sources have said that Blizzard “will work with the third-party tournament organizers ESL FACEIT Group and WDG esports to plan the future of the Overwatch esports ecosystem.” Given the difficulties Blizzard has had with the league in recent years, this is the approach that makes the most sense. Overwatch remains popular, so Blizzard should continue to look for ways to build the esports scene in ways that make sense. Hopefully, this move gives the players and organizers the tools they need to build something sustainable.
What’s Next For Overwatch 2?
At BlizzCon 2023, the Overwatch 2 team announced several new features and upcoming characters. The first new characters will get their hands on is Mauga, an upcoming Tank Hero who is set to hit the live servers on December 5. That means he’ll be available the same day that Season 8 drops. The team also announced the next two Heroes that follow Mauga in Season 10 and 12.
The first one up is a Damage Hero named Venture. They use a Dig ability to dive under the ground to get the jump on their enemies. They also have a Dash ability, which means we’re likely looking at an extremely mobile new Hero. The second Hero doesn’t have an official name yet but goes by the code name Space Ranger. Unlike Venture, Blizzard didn’t show them in action, but we do know that they will be a Support Hero and use a “burst-fire smart SMG.”
Outside of the two new characters, Blizzard will soon introduce a new PvP game mode called Clash. In it, players will need to capture five points that are placed along a line. It should provide for fun, back-and-forth matches with room for massive comeback swings.
Overwatch 2 is out now on PlayStation, Switch, Xbox, and PC platforms.ย
