Season 6 of the Overwatch League will see a big format shakeup and the inclusion of teams from its Contender's division in seasonlong competition. The Overwatch League will also hold 2 live events that will serve as the main event of its two tournament splits.
The 5th Season of the Overwatch League saw teams play the first high-level competitive games of Overwatch 2 and the competition left a big impression among fans. The live streams during playoffs boasted concurrent viewership over 300,000 for the Overwatch League Grand Finals that saw the Dallas Fuel take the San Francisco Shock to 7 games before a winner was decided. With those lofty goals now set, the league has work to do to maintain interest throughout the season and the Season 6 is shaping to be intriguing as the whole Overwatch Path to Pro system will be involved in some fashion.
Season 6 of the Overwatch League will see the teams split into its East and West Divisions but with a major twist. Beginning later in February, select Overwatch Contenders and Open Division teams from the Korea, Asia-Pacific, and Austrailia/New Zealand will play in divisional tournaments, the winners will move up to play the Overwatch League East Division teams. Overwatch Contenders teams from North America and Europe will play in a Pro-Am tournament starting on March 23, before Overwatch League teams start their Spring Qualifier games.
The Midseason Madness tournament and the Overwatch League Playoffs will be double elimination tournaments and will be live events, with dates to be determined later. In-between the Spring and Summer Stages, qualifying games for the Overwatch World Cup will be held. The best East Contenders teams that played into the Spring qualifiers will return for the Summer Stage tournament. No West Pro-Am competition will take place in the Summer Stage and teams will move right into Playoff qualifier games.
Season 6 may prove to be one of the most challenging for the Overwatch League yet. 2 teams have relocated: Paris Eternal are now the Vegas Eternal, and the Philadephia Fusion are now the Seoul Infernal. After 2 years of playing in the East region because its managing organization was based in China, the Los Angeles Valiant return to the West division, leaving the East thin on teams and sparking the inclusion of that region's Contenders teams. This is compounded by the questionable status of all its teams based in China after the relationship between Activision Blizzard and Chinese publisher NetEase fell apart at the end of 2022.
Overwatch League Season 6 begins March 23.
