Overwatch League 2023 to start in March

After many months of waiting and many doubts about what could happen with Overwatch 2 in China, Blizzard Entertainment has announced different details about the Overwatch League 2023.

Among all the information published, we will highlight the start date of the season and the planned events, as well as how all divisions will be framed considering the current situation with the different Blizzard Entertainment games in China.

Overwatch League 2023 Season Details

According to the announcement released by the OWL, the 2023 season will kick off next March 23 with a “Pro-Arm” tournament that will be three weeks long. This will give Contenders the opportunity to Contenders teams the wonderful opportunity to join the OWL West region in a 20-team tournament. The winner of this bracket will take home a cash prize of $100,000.

The 20 teams will be divided into four groups of five, playing in a round-robin format for two weeks. Then, the top two teams from each group will advance to a pool of eight teams playing in a single-elimination format during the third week.

The season will be divided into Spring and Summer. While the two major LAN events to be played will be the Midseason Madness Global Tournament and the Grand Finals. On the other hand, Blizzard says:

“As we enter our first full season in a free-to-play world, we are committed to serving a broader player base than ever before.”

Tournaments to be played in this 2023 season

Then we will have the Spring phase, where teams from the West will fight for a berth to the first Major of the year. On the other hand, the East division will use a Pro-Am format, where Contenders and Open Division teams will play.

On the other hand, we have the Major, which will be played in the middle of the season. This is tentatively planned to be played in June and will see four teams from the West and two from the East fighting in a double-elimination format.

After the Midseason Madness comes to the Summer Stage, where the same format as the Spring Stage will be used. This tournament will lead into the Summer Stage Qualifiers, all before the Play-Ins and Playoffs planned for September and October.

Although the season doesn’t seem very long, adding some Contenders and Open Division teams could stimulate a broader competition.

The Overwatch League will undoubtedly change due to the new format and the arrival of Contenders teams. However, only time will tell if the adjustments are beneficial or if these amateur teams find competing with the professional teams challenging.

Header: OWL