Fifth Overwatch League Season Kicks Off May 5, Will Include 24 Matches Per Team And Four Tournaments

Blizzard has revealed initial details regarding the fifth season of the Overwatch League, which will kick off on May 5 and be split into four tournament cycles of six games each, for a total of 24 regular-season games per team. As has been the case the last two seasons, teams will compete remotely, in East (Asia-Pacific) and West (North America-Europe) divisions, with 13 and seven teams in the two divisions, respectively.

The first and third tournaments will be regional competitions, while the second and fourth are currently intended to be live events featuring teams from both regions. The second tournament, Midseason Madness, will be a six-day affair, featuring four and eight teams from the East and West divisons, respectively, while the fourth tournament will serve as play-ins for the post-season.

Note: Activision Blizzard is still under investigation by the state of California for serious harassment charges. CEO Bobby Kotick is alleged to have known about such actions within his company – and performed some himself – and shielded the perpetrators from consequences.

As we knew previously, this season's matches will use Overwatch 2 and its 5v5 PvP matches. The game isn't scheduled to be released to the public until sometime in 2023.

The season's opening-weekend schedule was shown on Twitter, starting off with a match between the Los Angeles Gladiators and New York Excelsior at 12 p.m. Pacific on May 5; more dates will be revealed in the near future. Given this starting date -- the latest ever for an Overwatch League season -- and based on how previous seasons have progressed, it's likely that we'll see the end of the regular season around the first weekend of October, with playoffs possibly stretching into November.