At the beginning of the week, Activision Blizzard canceled all Overwatch League (OWL) homestand events in March and April due to the coronavirus. Today, they announced that they will resume playing OWL matches online later this month.
While there is no official schedule yet, Activision Blizzard states that they are currently working on making a new schedule. Fans can expect matches to resume online beginning on March 21. The matches will be streaming live on YouTube as per usual.
Will OWL Homestands resume later this year?
Activision Blizzard says in the announcement that they are hoping to resume Homestands in front of live audiences “as soon as it is safe and logistically possible.” There doesn’t seem to be a set timetable for the return. This is something that they will have to play by ear.
Other coronavirus cancellations
In addition to canceling homestand events, the OWL is also canceling the Midseason Tournament. Initially scheduled for Week 13 during the 2020 regular season break, the Midseason Tournament is a single-elimination tournament. It features a $1,050,000 prize pool split between the first, second, third, and fourth place finishing teams.
All-Star Weekend
While the All-Star Weekend isn’t being canceled outright like the Midseason Tournament, it is moving to the end of the 2020 OWL season. The All-Star weekend is where the best players from the Atlantic Conference duke it out with the best players from Pacific Conference. Activision Blizzard will release more details on the event changes in the future.
Overwatch League matches moving online this month: https://t.co/zcroKVZlUf
— Overwatch League (@overwatchleague) March 13, 2020
Hopefully, OWL fans won’t have to wait long to see their favorite teams again. It is likely that the teams that haven’t played any of their games yet will also be integrated into the online schedule. The coronavirus has been a tough issue to navigate, but it seems like the OWL will be safely back in action before too long. Unfortunately, fans hoping to see their favorite team live will have to wait.
What do you think of the OWL moving matches online? Is the league making the right choice?
