As the esports scene continues to evolve, the competitive scenes of various games are shifting to accommodate for more players, team owners and sponsors. Riot games already unveiled their plan early this year to franchise their competitive scene in League of Legends. Now, Blizzard is quickly scrambling to catch up and has announced the names of a few teams they have added to the newly created Overwatch League.
Blizzard had previously been under fire for ignoring the competitive Overwatch scene, instead focusing more on the in-game aspects, and their other popular games, such as Hearthstone and StarCraft 2. The Overwatch League will be the new central focus for competitive Overwatch.
While in the eyes of many this will be seen as a change for the better, there are two sides to the creation of the Overwatch League. Some have argued it completely ignores teams not part of it, preventing the best teams from competing at the highest level of play. Here we look at the teams and cities confirmed for the maiden year.
Teams confirmed in the Overwatch League
Boston: Robert Kraft, the founder and CEO of major corporation the “Kraft Group” has claimed the city of Boston as the home for his new Overwatch team. His experience investing in and transforming the “New England Patriots” into one of the biggest NFL franchises will be extremely valuable to his up and coming team.
New York: Jeff Wilpon has taken New York, he is currently the Chief Operating Officer for the “New York Mets”, yet another professional sporting team. There is no doubt Wilpon will be hugely involved with his new Overwatch team, as his previous activities all centralise in New York.
Los Angeles: Immortals CEO, Noah Whinston will be controlling the San Francisco region. Immortals is one of the most well-known League of Legends teams, competing at the highest level of play in the North American region, the NA LCS.
San Francisco: Yet another League of Legends CEO has snapped up one of the seven announced regions for the League, Andy Miller, the chairman / founder of NRG esports. While NRG’s success has slumped, simular to Immortals, they are still one of the major esports organisations having their hands in various games like CS:GO, hearthstone and smash bros.
Miami: Ben Spoont, the cofounder and CEO of Misfits gaming has decided to invest into the OW league through Miami. His experience managing Misfits into an extremely large organisation with teams in 5 separate games including Overwatch will truly add to the scene.
Shanghai: As the Overwatch scene picks up in China, a major Chinese internet company, NetEase has decided to scoop up the Shanghai region in the Overwatch League.
Seoul: The gaming capital of the world, Seoul will be taken by Kevin Chou, the cofounder of Kabam, a major mobile gaming company. He likely possesses the least experience when compared to all the previous owners, however, his corporate success will likely allow him to create an outstanding team with great management.
Blizzard has confirmed there will be more teams being added to the League in the coming months. Judging by the previous regions, it is likely the NA, CN, SEA, KR and EU scene will all combine into one big Overwatch League.
