The Overwatch League has decided to play the remainder of its 2020 regular season via online matches due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Matches are planned to run through August.
The esports league has yet to rule out returning to a live competition format for its playoffs and Grand Finals, which start in the fall. The Overwatch League has teams based across the U.S., Canada, Paris, London, China, and South Korea. “While we are collectively facing an incredibly challenging time, we hope to get back to live events before the 2020 season concludes, and we are working hand-in-hand with all our teams to make this happen as soon as it’s safe and logistically feasible,” the OWL said in a statement on Tuesday.
After two seasons of most matches occurring inside a studio in Los Angeles, the Overwatch League committed to playing weekly homestands in team’s home markets across North America, Europe, and Asia for the 2020 season. In February and March, matches set to take place in South Korea and China were postponed. The league made it through five weeks of homestands before announcing it was shutting down all events on March 11. After two weeks of no competition, matches returned online last weekend.
Matches will continue to livestream on YouTube, while the OWL’s employees work remotely to produce the broadcast due to COVID-19 preventing people from leaving their homes. The league has given clubs the option to play online matches from team home offices or practice facilities, or players can compete from inside their own homes. The league is working on finding cameras for players to use so fans can see them while watching matches on YouTube.
“We are working hard on that. Webcams have been incredibly difficult to obtain as so many people shift to working or competing from home. We hope to have player cameras on all players relatively soon, but for this weekend, only some will,” Overwatch League VP Jon Spector said on the league’s website last Friday.
