The next season of the Overwatch League will use an “early build” of Overwatch 2, according to a report by the Washington Post’s Launcher.
The report states that the 2022 OWL season, which is set to begin in April, will be played on the sequel to the popular six-vs-six shooter game. OWL vice president Jon Spector tweeted today confirming the planned April 2022 start date for the league.
“I’ve seen a lot of speculation regarding a 2022 start date for OWL. We can confirm that our plan is to begin next season in April 2022. We will share more details about 2022 roster construction timelines soon and more info generally on our 2022 season as we get closer to April,” Spector said.
The Overwatch League, along with the Call of Duty League, are Activision Blizzard’s own franchised leagues. Both reportedly required prospective franchise owners to invest millions and millions to purchase a league slot, but both have been criticized for relatively lackluster viewership. Many fans have also questioned how teams would ever make a profit off of their investments.
Certain segments of players and fans appear optimistic that using Overwatch 2 to lure new fans into watching the fifth season of the OWL would help inject new life into the league. A release date for the game sequel has not been revealed, although it would not be a surprise to see it launch sometime in 2022 if the OWL are playing on a version of it.