The first season of the Overwatch League has come to an end with London Spitfire as the eventual winners. But we are already in the off-season now and the League is looking to actively expand. Helped by the success of Season 1, Overwatch League franchise prices have already seen a boost. According to some sources, the prices are almost two or three times than that of Season 1.

Regardless of the price and the actual investments, Overwatch League will certainly expand in Season 2. But it is important that the League expands with the correct geographic distribution. After all, Season 1 had a majority North American presence. With nine teams from North America, there were a lot of doubts about how this League can become a ‘Global League’.

Season 2 will see the addition of multiple Asian teams

There were only two Asian teams in Season 1: The Shanghai Dragons and the Seoul Dynasty. But as we are heading closer to Season 2, there are several reports of multiple new teams from Korea and China joining the Overwatch League.

Several city-names are in contention according to these reports. Cities such as Guangzhou, Busan and Melbourne will definitely provide a decent geographic spread for the Overwatch League. A tweet by Dave of BenchMob suggests that OWL will see multiple Chinese teams. He suggests that there would be three new Chinese teams ( 4 in total with Shanghai Dragons) for Season 2.

Sources: Overwatch League will get 3 new Chinese teams for Season Two (now 4 total with Shanghai). Will release details regarding the specific cities once additional information is confirmed. And yes, this means more than 6 new expansion teams will be added. — dave c (@benchmobdc) September 1, 2018

China is already a very big esports market with great influence and passion in League of Legends. While the Chinese Overwatch players seem to be on a decline, this should not be a problem for Blizzard. They have already demonstrated their ability to extract the maximum from low viewership figures. The number of Chinese players might be going down as well, however, for a population as big as China the remainder is still a big number.

If the Chinese teams start doing well in overwatch League, we can see a rejuvenation in the interest for the FPS Game. This would definitely help the game to grow in the region as well.

Chinese investment in non-Chinese teams

This is the most important question as we approach Season 2. An investment from Chinese billionaires in the Overwatch league will not be a surprise. However, if true, Blizzard’s decision to allow an influx of 3-4 Chinese teams would definitely be surprising. The number of expansion slots for Season 2 is limited. It would essentially mean that some other regions will have to forego their dreams of Season 2 inclusion.

Europe still has only one team based out of London. The North American region has the majority of teams in Overwatch league. However, there is a lot of interest from NA for new franchise slots and teams.

The Chinese investors could very well be buying a franchise spot in Europe or North America. There is no region locking in Overwatch league which provides for a very flexible roster policy. London Spitfire, the winners of Season 1 have no players from London in their active roster. They had a full Korean lineup which emerged as the winners for Season 1.

A Chinese Franchise does not mean an All-Chinese roster

Shanghai Dragons came into Season 1 as the Chinese pride. They were supposed to be able to do better than some of the other Western teams in the League. Some analysts even pegged Shanghai to be ‘much better’ than Boston Uprising. After all, Boston Uprising was a team with unknown players who had little to no experience at the top level. But the reality was quite different, Shanghai Dragons ended the Season with a 0-40 record.

This was one of the worst professional performances in the United States. Despite repetitive failures at the top level, Shanghai Dragons had a fast-growing fan base. But a Chinese team does not mean that the roster needs to have an all-Chinese roster. Shanghai Dragons did start out with all Chinese players but eventually, they did add multiple Korean players as well.

With the recent roster changes all around the Overwatch league, we can be sure that the ‘new Chinese teams’ definitely will be signing several Western players. The main objective for all the Chinese teams would be to win the Overwatch League. Becoming the first Chinese team to win the Overwatch League would provide an immense boost to the team’s popularity amongst Chinese fans.

There is a lot of speculation on the actual number of new teams for Season 2. The First season had 12 Overwatch league teams and initial reports suggested that Season 2 will see six new teams. But with the latest news of new Chinese teams joining Overwatch League, the actual number of new teams might actually be much higher.

Season 2 Schedule and Format Changes

Overwatch League Season 1 was notorious for being extremely taxing on the players and the staff. Each team played around 40 matches through Season 1. The players felt a lot of fatigue especially as the break between different Stages was not too long.

For Season 2, the Overwatch league might have just two stages. This obviously comes from a reorganisation of the format and scheduling. The new schedule will do well to accommodate the new teams as well as address issues of player fatigue.

It also provides an opportunity for Blizzard to test a mini ‘Home and Away’ system. The Home and Away format are expected to be fully functional only in Season 3. However, with the influx of Chinese teams in Season 2, it would provide Blizzard with a good balance of Western and Chinese teams.

Sources: Blizzard changing Overwatch League regular season format ahead of Season 2: The number of total regular season matches each team will play is being reduced from 40 to 28. In addition, Season 2 will be broken down into 2 stages rather than 4. — dave c (@benchmobdc) September 1, 2018

They could potentially implement the Home and Away system divided into two stages. One stage might entail Chinese teams ( along with a few others in their division) travelling to a specific location to play their matches. This Pacific Division would mostly comprise of European and Asian teams.

The Atlantic Divison would consist of North American teams who would travel to the Chinese ‘Home City’ during Stage 2. It would prove to be a preparation for the next Season of the Overwatch League.

Overwatch League will resume in January 2019 with several new teams, a new schedule and format.