New teams are expected join Overwatch League in season two

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Blizzard confirmed that expansion teams will be sold later this year.

During today's quarterly earnings call, Blizzard said that new teams would likely be joining the Overwatch League later this year. Reached for comment following the call, an Overwatch League representative confirmed the news:

"We expect to begin selling additional expansion teams in the Overwatch League later this year. We have no further details to share at this time," the representative said. 

On the call today, Blizzard said that based on the success of Overwatch League so far, it expects the price of expansion teams to increase compared to the franchise fees paid for the inaugural season. According to multiple sources last year, the cost to purchase an Overwatch League team was $20 million, though that number was never confirmed nor refuted by Blizzard. 

Blizzard also mentioned that it expects Overwatch League to be profitable in 2018, its first full year of operation. Moving forward, Blizzard said the focus with Overwatch League would be on expanding the audience and improving the viewer experience. 

The current Overwatch League regular season runs through mid-June, followed by playoffs and grand finals—dates for which have not yet been confirmed. The start date of season two has not yet been announced, but it would presumably be before the end of the year.

Bo Moore
Bo Moore

As the former head of PC Gamer's hardware coverage, Bo was in charge of helping readers better understand and use PC hardware. He also headed up the buying guides, picking the best peripherals and components to spend your hard-earned money on. He can usually be found playing Overwatch, Apex Legends, or more likely, with his cats. He is now IGN's resident tech editor and PC hardware expert.