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Overwatch League ventures out of LA for second season

Overwatch League ventures out of LA for second season

Overwatch League games next season will be spread across two more cities.

A blog post for the Overwatch League Season 2 has revealed that Dallas Fuel, Atlanta Reign, and Los Angeles Valiant will all host live games in their home cities in what Blizzard is calling a Homestand Weekend series.

In the League’s first Season, all games were played in front of a live audience in the Blizzard Arena venue in Los Angeles. Valiant Homestand games will not be played here, instead played at The Novo by Microsoft on August 24th and 25th.

Dallas events will take place on April 27th and 28th, followed by Atlanta's games on July 6th and 7th. It's hardly a robust structure of home-and-away games as envisioned by the League, but it's a start towards bringing the game in front of more fans.

This is one step closer to the League’s overall goal of having home games played across the world. But it likely offers little reassurance to international fans and continues to mark a very US-centric approach to the League.

The Overwatch League was one of Activision Blizzard's biggest drivers for growth last quarter. But elsewhere, the company has just cut esports events for Heroes of the Storm as continued development goes on the backburner.

The second season brings eight new teams to the Overwatch League, two more than originally planned and brings the total number of OWL franchises to 20. All games will be streamed live on Twitch, MLG and the Overwatch League App, with select games streaming on TV via ESPN, Disney XD and ABC.

Season 2 of the Overwatch League begins February 14th 2019.


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.