Reports claiming the Overwatch League esports tournament will go on a "year-long hiatus" are untrue according to OWL vice president Jon Spector.
Esports site GGRecon published a story citing sources who claimed that the Overwatch League, Activision Blizzard's Overwatch esports league, will take a full year off for its 2022 season.
The reasoning for the delay was claimed to have had something to do with Overwatch 2. But Spector's tweet, which was sent to IGN when asked for comment, debunks this. So while the dates for the 2022 season haven't been announced a year-long delay is not in the cards.
It's really not practical to respond to every rumor about our future plans, but in this case this story is inaccurate. We have not set nor communicated dates about our 2022 season yet but do not plan to take a 'year-long hiatus' in any scenario we are considering currently. https://t.co/hDJwN2szb5
— Jon Spector (@Spex_J) August 11, 2021
Overwatch League was heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Right before the pandemic, OWL was getting ready to finally pilot its home-and-away format but these plans were scuttled due to restrictions on travel and indoor gatherings. Instead, OWL resorted to a remote virtual setup with matches between teams taking place entirely online.
There's also the matter of the ongoing Activision Blizzard lawsuit which casts a shadow over the entire company. IGN continues to follow the story closely.
For now, Overwatch League plans to resume in-person events starting in September. Overwatch teams in regions like China also resumed limited in-person events.
Vaccination efforts are ongoing and a new Delta variant is on the rise, so the Overwatch League will likely monitor these changes in real-time before the planned return to live events later this year.
Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.