Six new groups have been confirmed for the 2019 Overwatch League

Six new groups have been confirmed for the subsequent season of the Overwatch League. A press launch issued at this time introduced that Blizzard’s most high-profile esports contest is rising, with a complete of 20 groups competing for the 2019 championship.

The new additions do rather a lot to deal with the American imbalance provided by the present League. In the primary season, a complete of 9 groups have been primarily based in cities within the USA, whereas simply three groups – London Spitfire, Seoul Dynasty, and Shanghai Dragons – have been primarily based elsewhere. That was already set to alter this season, after all, after two extra groups – Atlanta and Guangzhou – have been confirmed, however now there are a number of extra worldwide groups.

They come from Chengdu and Hangzhou (China), Paris (France), and Toronto and Vancouver (Canada), in addition to one staff from Washington D.C. While there’s simply the one new staff from the USA, it’s price mentioning {that a} additional two groups are from North America, which means that 13 of the now 20 groups come from simply two international locations.

It would additionally appear that whereas Blizzard’s try to increase into China has been profitable, it’s not been nearly as good at making inroads into Europe. There have been talks about appealing to football teams, particularly, in an effort to appeal to extra large-scale sponsors for groups, particularly given rumours of accelerating buy-in prices for the League’s subsequent season.

The new groups can be owned by (within the order listed above); HUYA, a chinese language livestreaming platform; Bilibili, a Chinese on-line leisure firm; DM esports; OverActive Media, a Canadian esports and videogame firm; Aquilini Group, the homeowners of Canadian NHL staff the Vancouver Canucks; and Washington Esports Ventures.

We can’t look forward to the #OWL2019 season!

Here are the eight new groups becoming a member of the league! pic.twitter.com/zhkrNYDlko

— Overwatch League (@overwatchleague) September 7, 2018

None of the groups have been formally named at this level. The press launch states that names, marks, and rosters will all “be announced soon by each franchise in conjunction with the Overwatch League.” Some time after that, we’ll be taught the schedule for the newly-revamped 2019 League.