Overwatch League is bringing back live events in September

(Image credit: Blizzard)

The Overwatch League will wrap up its 2021 season with a return to live events in September. The post-season will begin on September 4 with online regional play-in matches leading to a double-elimination playoff bracket on September 16 and Grand Finals on September 25, both of which will be played in front of live audiences.

The top three teams in the West region—Atlanta Reign, Boston Uprising, Dallas Fuel, Florida Mayhem, Houston Outlaws, London Spitfire, Los Angeles Gladiators, Paris Eternal, San Francisco Shock, Toronto Defiant, Vancouver Titans, and Washington Justice—and the top two in the East—Chengdu Hunters, Guangzhou Charge, Hangzhou Spark, Los Angeles Valiant, New York Excelsior, Philadelphia Fusion, Shanghai Dragons, and Seoul Dynasty—will qualify for the playoff bracket. The remaining three slots will be filled via the play-in bracket, two from the West and one from the East.

Even more interesting than the race to the top, however, is the return of live audiences. It's been well over a year since Blizzard began halting in-person league matches, due to what was then still a mysterious new virus that had resulted in an estimated 170 deaths. Further cancellations followed quickly, and in March 2020 Blizzard halted all in-person events until at least May of that year.

The loss of live events eventually led Blizzard to shift focus to online action: Activision Blizzard Sports and Entertainment president Tony Petitti said in March 2021 that in-person competitions weren't being dropped entirely, but noted that Blizzard "learned a lot last year in terms of how the leagues can be structured for online play, and we’ll look to carry forward the best practices from that." Overwatch teams in China made a return to in-person play, in very limited formats, earlier this year.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.