OWLeague Expansion Confirmed in Activison Blizzard Earnings Call
By Nicholas Barth ·
The Overwatch League has been a major success in the world of esports and Blizzard is looking to grow the league even more for the foreseeable future seasons.
The future of the Overwatch League looks bright as ever, as Blizzard's global esports league has become a massive hit with fans across the world. Passionate fanbases have developed for each of the twelve teams that make up the league. A majority of these teams are based in North America with only the London Spirfire, Seoul Dynasty, and Shanghai Dragons being based in other regions of the world. Fortunately, this will not last for too long as CEO of Activison Blizzard, Bobby Kotick, revealed in Activison Blizzard's Fourth Quarter 2017 Results Earnings Call yesterday.
During the call, while giving an explanation of the success that the Overwatch League has seen so far, Bobby Kotick revealed the plans that Blizzard has for expanding the Overwatch League.
"Our efforts have already lead to increased global demand for expansion teams, which we expect to start selling later this year."
.@natenanzer has told me and other press that their large targets of expansion are Europe and Asia.
— Jacob Wolf (@JacobNWolf) February 8, 2018
Among their current three international teams, only one is owned by an organization based in that country. https://t.co/Co5yK1QRgn
According to ESPN reporter Jacob Wolf, Overwatch League Commissioner Nate Nanzer explained that the current targets for team expansion are the regions of Europe and Asia. Even though there are three international teams currently in the Overwatch League, the Shanghai Dragons are the only one owned by an organization in their own region, in this case being the Chinese internet technology company NetEase. The London Spitfire are owned by Cloud9, a North American esports organization, and the Seoul Dynasty are owned by KSV Esports, an esports team management company based in North American.
We will not be seeing these new expansion teams until Season 2 of the Overwatch League, but that does not take away from any of the excitement that fans will have. Speculation and revelations to which organizations, companies, cities, and players will be involved in these new additions to the league will have Overwatch fans looking out for every little bit of news they can find.
With every new Overwatch League team announced, a whole new passionate fanbase will be created to root them on, as they represent the city they love and call home.
Looking for more Overwatch League news? Check out our recap of the action leading into the Stage 1 playoffs!