The 2021 Overwatch League season was the fourth season of the

Overwatch League The Overwatch League (OWL) is a professional esports league for the video game '' Overwatch'', produced by its developer, Blizzard Entertainment. The Overwatch League follows the model of other traditional North American professional sporting l ...

(OWL), a professional esports league for the video game ''

Overwatch ''Overwatch'' is a multimedia franchise centered on a series of online multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS) video games developed by Blizzard Entertainment: '' Overwatch'' released in 2016, and '' Overwatch 2'' released in 2022. Both games f ...

''. The regular season began on April 16, 2021, and concluded on August 21. The season featured four midseason tournaments throughout the regular season along with a new point system for season playoff seeding. Similar to the 2020 season, teams are split into two geographical regions. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, most matches were played online, with the exception of several live events throughout the season. The season marks the second year of the Overwatch League's broadcast partnership with

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

, their third with

Sport1 Sport1 may refer to the following TV channels: * Sport1 (Eastern Europe) * Sport1 (Germany) * Sport1 (Lithuania) * Sport1 (Netherlands), now Ziggo Sport Totaal * Sport 1 (Russian TV channel) Match! Arena ( rus, Матч! Арена), formerly ...

, and their first with

Bilibili Bilibili (stylized bilibili), nicknamed B Site, is a video sharing website based in Shanghai where users can submit, view and add overlaid commentary on videos. Since the mid-2010s, Bilibili began to expand to a broader audience from its orig ...

. The postseason began on September 4 with two regional play-in tournaments acting as qualifiers for the season playoffs. The playoffs began on September 21 and culminated with the Grand Finals on September 25. The

Shanghai Dragons The Shanghai Dragons () are a professional ''Overwatch'' esports team based in Shanghai, China. The Dragons compete in the Overwatch League (OWL) as a member of the league's East region. Founded in 2017, Shanghai Dragons are one of the league's ...

won the Grand Finals over the

Atlanta Reign Atlanta Reign is an American professional ''Overwatch'' esports team based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Reign compete in the Overwatch League (OWL) as a member of the league's West region. Founded in 2018, Atlanta Reign began play as one of eight ...

to win their first OWL championship.

Format

Regions and live events

After all matches were rescheduled to be played strictly online due to the

, the 2020 season saw the OWL divide teams into two regions, North America and Asia, in an effort to reduce lag due to online play. For the 2021 season, the twenty teams were be divided into two regions, the East and West. Eight teams from China and South Korea competed in the East Region, while twelve teams from North America and Europe competed in the West Division. The majority of matches in the 2021 season were played online. Three live events were planned to be hosted by three teams in China: Hangzhou Spark in June, Shanghai Dragons in July, and Guangzhou Charge in August. All five China-based teams travelled to these events, while the three Korea-based teams played at the events remotely via the league's

cloud server A virtual private server (VPS) is a virtual machine sold as a service by an Internet hosting service. The virtual dedicated server (VDS) also has a similar meaning. A virtual private server runs its own copy of an operating system (OS), and cus ...

. The Charge's homestand in August was cancelled, however, due to COVID-19 concerns. Additionally, the Dallas Fuel hosted a homestand in July at Esports Stadium Arlington.

Midseason tournaments

The league expanded upon the tournament format that was introduced in the 2020 season. Four standalone tournaments, the May Melee, June Joust, Summer Showdown, and Countdown Cup, were spread throughout the regular season with teams from both regions competing against each other. Hero pools, a system in which some heroes are unplayable, were used in two of the four tournaments: the June Joust and Countdown Cup. For each tournament, teams played four weeks of regional qualifier matches. The top six teams from the West and the top four teams from the East advanced to regional knockout matches, and the top two teams from each region advanced from the knockouts to play in the interregional tournament. In an effort to minimize lag, the qualifying Western teams traveled to the

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa The University of Hawaii at Mānoa (University of Hawaii—Mānoa, UH Mānoa, Hawai'i, or simply UH) is a public land-grant research university in Mānoa, a neighborhood in Honolulu, Hawaii. It is the flagship campus of the University of Hawa ...

for each interregional tournament. The

internet service provider An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise privatel ...

at the University of Hawaii was directly connected to a

cloud-based Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage (cloud storage) and computing power, without direct active management by the user. Large clouds often have functions distributed over mul ...

server in

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, Japan via an underwater sea cable, while the qualifying Eastern teams did not travel anywhere and connected to the Tokyo server from Asia. With this setup, the league was able to equal latencies for all participating players with a "minimum-latency tool" developed by Activision.

Season playoffs

Contrasted to previous seasons, where playoff seeding was determined by teams' win–loss record throughout the regular season, the league implemented a point system, called League Points, to determine regular season standings. Every win in the regular season earned a team one point. A first-, second-, or third-place finish in each midseason tournament earned the placing team an additional three, two, or one point, respectively. A total of eight teams advanced to the season playoffs: the top three teams from the West and the top two teams from the East, based on League Points, advanced directly to the season playoffs.

Seeds A seed is an Plant embryogenesis, embryonic plant enclosed in a testa (botany), protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, includ ...

four through nine in the Western region and seeds three through five in the Eastern region in the advanced to their respective region's play-in tournament, with two teams from the West and one team from the East advancing to the season playoffs.

Regular season

The 2021 schedule was released on February 20, 2021, and the regular season began on April 16. ;East region ;West region

May Melee

The May Melee was the first of four midseason tournaments of the season. Qualifiers began on April 16 and concluded on May 1. The regional knockouts began on May 2, and the May Melee tournament between the top two teams from each region began on May 7.

Qualifiers

;East region ;West region

Regional knockouts

;East region ;West region

Tournament weekend

June Joust

The June Joust was the second of four midseason tournaments of the season. For the tournament, four heroes were banned from all qualifying and tournament matches:

Tracer Tracer may refer to: Science * Flow tracer, any fluid property used to track fluid motion * Fluorescent tracer, a substance such as 2-NBDG containing a fluorophore that is used for tracking purposes * Histochemical tracer, a substance used for tr ...

, Sombra, Reinhardt, and Zenyatta. Qualifiers began on May 21 and concluded on June 5. The regional knockouts began on June 6, and the May Melee tournament between the top two teams from each region began on June 11.

Qualifiers

;East region ;West region

Regional knockouts

;East region ;West region

Tournament weekend

Summer Showdown

The Summer Showdown was the third of four midseason tournaments of the season. Qualifiers began on June 25 and concluded on July 10. The regional knockouts began on July 11, and the tournament began on July 16.

Qualifiers

;East region ;West region

Regional knockouts

;East region ;West region

Tournament weekend

Countdown Cup

The Countdown Cup was the last of four midseason tournaments of the season. For the tournament, four heroes were banned from all qualifying and tournament matches:

Echo In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo is a reflection of sound that arrives at the listener with a delay after the direct sound. The delay is directly proportional to the distance of the reflecting surface from the source and the li ...

, Ashe,

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, and

Lúcio Lucimar Ferreira da Silva (born 8 May 1978), commonly known as Lúcio, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. A tall and physically strong defender who excelled in the air, Lúcio was known for his long, sur ...

. Qualifiers began on July 30 and concluded on August 14. The regional knockouts take place on August 15, and the tournament began on August 19.

Qualifiers

;East region ;West region

Regional knockouts

;East region ;West region

Tournament weekend

Postseason

Play-in tournaments

The play-in tournaments were two regional

single-elimination tournament A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final mat ...

s that took place September 4–5 and advanced two Western teams and one Eastern team to the season playoffs. In the Western region, seeds four through nine, based on regular season standings, advanced to the Western play-in tournament. The first round was contested by seeds six through nine, with the sixth seed selecting either the eighth or ninth seed as their opponent. The winners of the first round advanced to the finals, with the fourth seed choosing their opponent from the winners of the first round. In the Eastern region, seeds three through five, based on regular season standings, advanced to the Eastern play-in tournament. The fourth and fifth seed competed in the first round, and the winner of the first round faced the third seed in the final. In both regions, the winner of the finals advanced to the season playoffs.

Brackets

;East region ;West region

Playoffs

The playoffs were a

double-elimination tournament A double-elimination tournament is a type of elimination tournament competition in which a participant ceases to be eligible to win the tournament's championship upon having lost ''two'' games or matches. It stands in contrast to a single-elimi ...

contested by eight teams – five from the West region and three from the East region. All matches in season playoffs, aside from the final match, took place from September 21 to 24. The final two teams remaining in the tournament advanced to the Grand Finals, which took place on September 25. Playoff matches, aside from the Grand Finals, were planned to take place live at Esports Stadium Arlington in Arlington, Texas, while the Grand Finals was planned to take place at the

Galen Center The Galen Center is a multipurpose indoor arena and athletic facility owned and operated by the University of Southern California. Located at the southeast corner of Jefferson Boulevard and Figueroa Street in the Exposition Park area of Los Angel ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

, California; however, the OWL announced on August 25, 2021, that all playoff matches, including the Grand Finals, would not be played in a live format due to increasing risks of COVID-19 and the

Delta variant The Delta variant (B.1.617.2) was a variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. It was first detected in India in late 2020. The Delta variant was named on 31 May 2021 and had spread to over 179 countries by 22 November 2021. The ...

. Instead, the West region playoff teams travelled to the

, while the East region teams played in their home country, to minimize latency between competing teams.

Bracket

Notable events

Chinese teams boycott Saebyeolbe

On April 12, 2021, while streaming on

Twitch Twitch may refer to: Biology * Muscle contraction ** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation ** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction ** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle co ...

Seoul Dynasty Seoul Dynasty is a South Korean professional ''Overwatch'' esports team based in Seoul, South Korea. The Dynasty compete in the Overwatch League (OWL) as a member of the league's East region. Founded in 2017, Seoul Dynasty is one of the league' ...

player Park "Saebyeolbe" Jong-ryeol commented about frustration trying to appeal to a Chinese audience while streaming on the Chinese streaming platform DouYu. In an English translation, Park said during his Twitch stream, "I can't say Taiwan and ong Kong At all. They (China) don't recognize them as countries. I got into so much trouble for saying their names. Make it make sense. What are you talking about, 'One China?' So I objected to that and all the managers said, 'If you want to earn Chinese money, you have to become a Chinese dog.' So that's what I'm doing right now. I can even say, 'Thanks for subscribing' in Chinese. Aren't I good at Chinese?" Two days after the comments, Park apologized via a handwritten note on

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

. Nearly three weeks after the apology, the four Chinese teams of the Overwatch League — the Shanghai Dragons, Chengdu Hunters, Hangzhou Spark, and Guangzhou Charge — announced that they would not participate in any Overwatch League event in which Park was present. On May 6, 2021, the Overwatch League issued a statement announcing that the Chinese teams would no longer be boycotting Park nor the Seoul Dynasty. As of August 18, 2021, Park has not appeared in a match since the incident.

Soft salary cap investigation

In July 2021, ''

Dot Esports The GAMURS Group, simply known as Gamurs, is an esports media and entertainment publisher. Established in December 2014, the group operates multiple brands focusing on the esports and entertainment news markets, including the websites: ''Dot Esp ...

'' reported that the Civil Conduct Task Force of the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and a ...

antitrust division was investigating whether or not the league's soft salary cap policy violated the

Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 (, ) is a United States antitrust law which prescribes the rule of free competition among those engaged in commerce. It was passed by Congress and is named for Senator John Sherman, its principal author. Th ...

, as the player's are not

unionized A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

. The league's soft salary cap per team in 2020 was , and if a team went over that amount, they would have to pay additional money to the league, which would be distributed to other teams. In October 2021, ''

Sports Business Journal American City Business Journals, Inc. (ACBJ) is an American newspaper publisher based in Charlotte, North Carolina. ACBJ publishes The Business Journals, which contains local business news for 44 markets in the United States, Hemmings Motor News ...

'' reported that the OWL would be eliminating their competitive balance tax and maximum salary caps.

League sponsorship pulled

In July 2021, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard for sexual harassment and discrimination taking place within the Blizzard workplace. Two weeks after the filing, Overwatch League partners

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atla ...

Kellogg's The Kellogg Company, doing business as Kellogg's, is an American multinational food manufacturing company headquartered in Battle Creek, Michigan, United States. Kellogg's produces cereal and convenience foods, including crackers and toas ...

State Farm State Farm Insurance is a large group of mutual insurance companies throughout the United States with corporate headquarters in Bloomington, Illinois. Overview State Farm is the largest property and casualty insurance provider, and the la ...

, and

T-Mobile T-Mobile is the brand name used by some of the mobile communications subsidiaries of the German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom AG in the Czech Republic ( T-Mobile Czech Republic), Poland ( T-Mobile Polska), the United States ( T-Mob ...

announced that they would be reassessing their partnership with the league, and all branding of the aforementioned companies were removed from the league's website. Later, Kellogg's stated they "will not be moving forward" with their sponsorship of the Overwatch League. Additionally, ''

'' observed that IBM branding was removed from all Overwatch League media, including the league's official partners' page and

power rankings A sports rating system is a system that analyzes the results of sports competitions to provide Evaluation, ratings for each team or player. Common systems include polls of expert voters, crowdsourcing non-expert voters, betting markets, and compute ...

. In mid-August 2021, the only sponsor present during Overwatch League broadcasts was voice-over-Internet Protocol software company TeamSpeak.

Awards

Individual awards

Role Stars

Source:

Media

This was the second year of the two-year contract with

, which does not include broadcast rights for China. For the 2021 season, YouTube introduced clipping functionality for their videos and allowed OWL games to be rendered in

4K resolution 4K resolution refers to a horizontal display resolution of approximately 4,000 pixels. Digital television and digital cinematography commonly use several different 4K resolutions. In television and consumer media, 38402160 (4K UHD) is the domina ...

. Under a new, multi-year contract,

obtained production and broadcast rights in China. Bilibili has a similar deal with

Riot Games Riot Games, Inc. is an American video game developer, publisher and esports tournament organizer based in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in September 2006 by Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill to develop ''League of Legends'' and went on ...

' ''

League of Legends ''League of Legends'' (''LoL''), commonly referred to as ''League'', is a 2009 multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games. Inspired by ''Defense of the Ancients'', a custom map for ''Warcraft III'', Ri ...

'' international competitions and, prior to the deal with the Overwatch League, secured hosting rights for

Overwatch Contenders Overwatch Contenders (OWC) is an international esports league for the video game '' Overwatch'' that is organized by Blizzard Entertainment. The series acts as the development league for aspiring Overwatch League (OWL) professionals. Founded ...

and Overwatch Open Division in China. Activision Blizzard renewed a deal for TV-exclusive rights to the Overwatch League in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland with

; the multi-year contract was signed after their two-year deal with Sport1 concluded.

Winnings

Teams in the 2021 season competed for a total prize pool of across midseason tournaments and playoffs, with the payout division detailed below. ;May Melee ;June Joust ;Summer Showdown ;Countdown Cup ;Season playoffs

References

External links

* * {{2021 OWL season by team

Overwatch League season 2021