OWL Teams are in Limbo
Overwatch 2 and other Blizzard goods were taken down in China after a failed contract extension with NetEase. Since China cannot play Overwatch League, Chinese teams are unknown.
After posting a tweet earlier today that said “Goodbye and saw you again,” the Chengdu Hunters brought the situation to the attention of the majority of its supporters. The shutdown adversely affected the Hunters, the Guangzhou Charge, the Hangzhou Spark, the Shanghai Dragons, and the Los Angeles Valiant. The Los Angeles Valiant nevertheless maintains its base of operations in China.
Blizzard and NetEase talk about the new agreement.
Since Blizzard revealed that the shutdown would occur back in November, most people who live in the country are not taken aback by the news that it will take place. The games have been put on hold because Blizzard and NetEase could only negotiate a new licensing agreement after the last one ran out on January 23. Due to the agreement’s termination, World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, Warcraft III: Reforged, Overwatch 2, the StarCraft series, Diablo III, and Heroes of the Storm were all pulled offline in China.
As a result of their inability to play the game, Overwatch League teams are currently in a state of limbo. Fans are becoming increasingly concerned about the league’s state because the league has yet to disclose when the competition will resume this year. It is especially concerning because the free agency period has been postponed multiple times. At the same time, the company works out how to get the game back online in China.
The current situation indicates that the league will not return for at least a few months. The original deadline of January 16 for all teams to sign the required number of players has been put back to March 13. The new deadline will take effect on that day. Fans deduce from this information that the Overwatch League will begin in April.
There was a deadline for clubs to have six players signed to their squad. However, the date has since been pushed out from its initial deadline of March 1. News has yet to be made public to fans.
Fans are speculating that now that the game has been taken offline. There has yet to be a timetable for when it will be returned online in China. Teams will either relocate their operations to another country to continue to compete or wait until the game is brought back online in China. For the time being, players in China won’t be able to access any Blizzard games, and they’ll have to be patient while the business figures out how to get the games back up.
The conclusion, if you will.
Shortly, the status of the Overwatch League will not be clarified. But Sean Miller would like to say something to all of the fans. It was Sean Miller. “We’ve been working hard to prepare for the 2023 season, and we can’t wait to start. Hope to share additional information with the community in the next couple of weeks.
The sixth season of the Overwatch 2 League will feature all East and West teams.