Today, a document was leaked for BlizzCon guests that appears to show that the Blizzard Overwatch League will be announced Friday 4th November at 12:00 PM PDT.
The Overwatch League was leaked in late October by Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, who spoke to TheStreet about their broad plans.
The quote said:
Regarding eSports, he's noticed the number of spectators of these online gaming competitions has risen to 100 million, watching what he described as "user-generated" content.
"What we're doing is creating professional content. So we're organizing around teams and leagues. You will have the Overwatch League which will have a certain number of teams. Those teams will be a combination of professional sports teams as owners and endemic sports teams as owners," Kotick explained.
People should expect to see the emergence of professional leagues, with in-person spectating, and arena events, he noted.
No real details have yet been announced; despite reports that organisations have been in the loop for months, there are no verified specifics about the Overwatch League.
There has been speculation about the best format for a league since the leak, with analysts comparing Blizzard's previous approaches to those of Valve's and Riot's. The leaked document was first unveiled publicly by Rod "Slasher" Breslau in The O.W. discord.
This announcement, just before the Quarter Finals of the BlizzCon World Cup, should lay out Blizzard's plans for the esports scene for the future.
Discord