The Overwatch League slowly re-opens face-to-face events in Asia, at least starting this summer. The world begins to relax measures for the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Overwatch League joins this wave of recovery from normality starting with China.
“The Overwatch League has been actively monitoring the situation around the world in order to continue to adapt the situation to the ongoing pandemic,” said Blizzard. “Given the health and safety improvements in China, we are excited to announce the return of face-to-face events in three cities during the 2021 season.”
These are the three chosen dates and the cities:
- June 4-6: Hangzhou Spark (June Joust)
- July 9-11: Shanghai Dragons (Summer Showdown)
- August 7-8: Guangzhou Charge (Countdown Cup)
During face-to-face events, the auditoriums will have a capacity restriction. All five teams from China will travel to each event, but those from Korea will play online. The Chinese teams will be on stage and the Koreans will use the tournament’s cloud server.
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many events to be canceled. Now that the vaccination period is progressing, some countries have reopened auditoriums, restaurants, and other services.
The 2020 season was going to be “normal”, but the pandemic forced the situation and it had to be done remotely. After this interim period, the 2021 Overwatch League season returns this Friday, April 16. It was time.
