Overwatch League 2021 Dates, Format and Schedule announced with a $4.25m prize pool

As players explore the 3.05 update (Overwatch) that rolled out for experimental heroes a week ago, Overwatch league has finally announced more details about its 2021 season. The league will witness different broadcast times for different regions to better cater to fans. For North American teams, the action starts at 3 PM ET while matches in the Asia Pacific region will go live at 4 AM ET or 5 PM China Standard Time.

The tournament system will be the same as used for the previous year when the COVID-19 pandemic struck. The 4.25 million $ prize pool tournament will witness relentless competition starting with teams in both the regions (West and East) playing regular season matches which will act as qualifiers for four “standalone” tournaments. The tournaments are named May Melee, June Joust, Summer Showdown and Countdown Cup. The top four teams from each region will be seen competing in a single bracket and all regular season matchups will count as qualifying matches for the playoffs scheduled at a later stage. The East division consists of 8 teams - Chengdu Hunters, Guangzhou Charge, Hangzhou Spark, Los Angeles Valiant, New York Excelsior, Philadelphia Fusion, Shanghai Dragons, and Seoul Dynasty. The West division consists of 12 teams - Atlanta Reign, Boston Uprising, Dallas Fuel, Florida Mayhem, Houston Outlaws, London Spitfire, Los Angeles Gladiators, Paris Eternal, San Francisco Shock, Vancouver Titans, Toronto Defiant, and Washington Justice. The teams from the West are all set to travel to Hawaii to compete against the east via a routed connection if conditions permit.

More information will be revealed on BlizzConline as time goes by where the Overwatch event “Shock vs The World” will be hosted. The event will see two-time league champions “The San Francisco Shock” take on an all-star team of players.