Younger players looking to sharpen their skills and train up for professional eSports may have just gotten a new path to the top thanks to a brand new Overwatch Rec League. While major league events have recently been shut down due to coronavirus, this new rec league is looking to start up as early as this next fall.
Working in tandem with PlayVS, an organization dedicated to helping set up esports leagues for high school and college teams, Blizzard has added Overwatch to the list of associated games. PlayVS already works with massive titles like League of Legends' esports scene, as well as more games popular with younger demographics like Fornite.
The new high school rec league, scheduled to roll out on October 15th, will allow schools to sign up for an unlimited number of teams per school, but is only allowed to have six players per team. Each team will compete weekly, playing matches every Wednesday leading up to a regional championship that will be held at the end of the season. To guide them, pro-players in each region can sign up to be coaches and guide young players on the best character metas in Overwatch, and the most successful team compositions for each match-up.
Considering how many players that currently compete in the official Overwatch League began in collegiate eSports leagues, letting younger players jump in from high school will be a great way to help players hone their skills, early on. Additionally, as players retire from the pro scene or move onto other esports titles like Valorant, there are often new openings popping up in pro teams, as well as new pro teams being formed every day. However, while this may be a straightforward path for some young players, the number of players who may go on to become pros will likely only be a small selection of the overall league, as is often the case with other high school and collegiate sports.
So, while the new path laid out by Blizzard and PlayVS will clearly be enticing to young players to the highly rewarding Overwatch League, players should be aware that this is not a guarantee to the pro lifestyle. Instead, this is a great way for players to learn important teamwork, problem-solving, and risk management skills that can be applied in a number of circumstances that go far beyond the realm of gaming. To this degree, while there is no guarantee that a high school esports league will lead to future esports success, it could instead lead to different successes down the road, due to these honed skills.
Overwatch is available now for PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
Source: Forbes