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LOS ANGELES -- The Overwatch League has revealed the league, competition format and schedule for the 2018 inaugural season, Blizzard Entertainment announced at BlizzCon on Saturday. As previously announced, the league will take place at the new Blizzard Arena in Burbank, California. The regular season will begin on Jan. 10, with the preseason taking place starting Dec. 6. Each team will play twice per week, with games running Wednesday through Saturday. The season will consist of four five-week stages. Stages reset records after each iteration, and playoffs will be seeded by a mix of stage record and overall record. The Overwatch League will be split into two divisions. The Pacific division will hold the Dallas Fuel, San Francisco Shock, Los Angeles Gladiators, Los Angeles Valiant, Shanghai Dragons and the Seoul Dynasty. The Atlantic division will consist of the Houston Outlaws, Florida Mayhem, Philadelphia Fusion, New York Excelsior, Boston Uprising and London Spitfire. In each stage, bonuses of $125,000 will be awarded, with $500,000 total across the stages. Half of that will go to players per Overwatch League rules, and the remaining half will be paid to the organizations. Playoffs will start July 11. Location has not been determined, but league commissioner Nate Nanzer said that it will be outside of the Los Angeles area in a larger venue than Blizzard Arena. The league also influenced changes to the spectator mode. Team uniforms have been created for each team, changing the colors of every single character. The game will also have multiple cameras, including third-party perspective, a map view and instant replay.
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