After a successful inaugural season in 2018 that ended with the London Spitfire becoming the first Overwatch League Champions, 2019 looks to improve on that with more teams, flexible schedules for players, and an even bigger prize pool.
Eight new teams are joining the League for 2019: the Atlanta Reign, Paris Eternal, Toronto Defiant, Washington Justice, Chengdu Hunters, Guangzhou Charge, Hangzhou Spark, and the Vancouver Titans. Atlanta, Paris, Toronto, and Washington will be joining the Boston Uprising, Florida Mayhem, Houston Outlaws, London Spitfire, New York Excelsior, and the Philadelphia Fusion in the Atlantic Division, while the Pacific Division of the Dallas Fuel, Los Angeles Gladiators, Los Angeles Valiant, San Francisco Shock, Seoul Dynasty and the Shanghai Dragons will welcome Chengdu, Guangzhou, Hangzhou and Vancouver to the mix.
More teams mean fewer matches for each, as all teams will play a 28-match schedule, down from 40 last season. This will also allow players to be able to visit home during the year, as well as give them more breaks during the season, as teams will play no more than two matches a week.
Another change, taking from traditional sports games, is the date of the All-Star Game. Last year, the All-Star Game and the skill competitions that went along with it were held after the playoffs. This year, the All-Star Weekend will be held at the halfway point of the season, between Stages 2 and 3.
The Stage Finals are also getting an upgrade for 2019. Last year, the three top teams in the stage would play for the title of Stage Champion, where the top team was automatically in the Grand Final, and the second and third place team would play to go against them. In 2019, the top eight teams from each stage will advance to the Stage Finals, which will be complete with a seeded bracket.
As for the postseason? The Atlantic Division and Pacific Division winner automatically advance, as well as the next best four teams, no matter the division, according to record. If a team doesn’t qualify by those means, they have one more chance to qualify through a tournament for the seventh-12th place teams.
The prize pool for the 2019 season expanded from $3.5 million last year to $5 million this year. Stage winners get $200K, second place gets $100K, third and fourth place will receive $50K (each), and to round out the stage, fifth through eighth place teams get $25K each. The 2019 League Champion team will win $1.1 million, second place will get $600K, third place $450K, fourth place $350K, fifth and sixth will each receive $300K each, and seventh and eighth place will get $200K each.
Blizzard announced a few more tidbits of information for the upcoming season as well, including map pools for each stage have been expanded to 12, different events at the Blizzard Arena, and the Overwatch League will be returning to TV this year with a selection of matches on ABC family of networks, including ESPN and Disney XD.
All matches will be available live on the Overwatch League’s website, their Twitch channel, as well as through Major League Gaming.