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Report: Vancouver and China's Chengdu among new Overwatch League teams

Report: Vancouver and China's Chengdu among new Overwatch League teams

We now have a better idea of where the remaining new Overwatch League teams are going to be based.

“League sources” told ESPN that Blizzard has sold slots in next season’s Overwatch League to Chengdu, China and Vancouver, Canada.

Chinese streaming service and Tencent subsidiary Huya will manage the Chengdu team. Meanwhile, Vancouver Canucks owner Aquilini Investment Group is pegged to run Canada’s second League team, following Toronto’s announcement last month. AIG also owns Rogers Arena, the site of Dota 2’s The International 2018.

Sources state these two purchases mark the final cities in the League's expansion sales process.

Earlier this year, Blizzard stated a desire to add six new teams to the League’s second season - two in North America, two in Europe and two in Asia. The final tally is a little larger, and a little more skewed.

Since the end of Season One, Blizzard has managed to snag eight teams total - four in North America (Atlanta, Washington D.C., Vancouver and Toronto), three in Asia (China’s Guangzhou, Hangzhou and Chengdu) and a mere one European team (Paris).

The new arrivals bring the team-count for the Overwatch League up to 20. Inaugural teams are reported to have paid $20 million for a slot in the roster - while franchise fees are unknown for the new teams, Toronto was rumoured to have paid $35 million for access.


Staff Writer

Natalie Clayton is an Edinburgh-based freelance writer and game developer. Besides PCGamesInsider and Pocketgamer.biz, she's written across the games media landscape and was named in the 2018 GamesIndustry.biz 100 Rising Star list.