Blizzard has announced that it will host an official Overwatch e-sports tournament titled Overwatch League. The game developer revealed its plans during its BlizzCon event last Friday.
According to the announcement, the competition will be set up to be similarly to American professional sports leagues such as basketball league NBA and American football league NFL.
Several large teams are to be located in major cities around the world, which players can be a part of if they are selected by the clubs in a draft. Once contracted players will be able to earn a salary.
"Our plan is to expand the league over time to include additional teams from the Americas, Europe, China, Korea and the Asia Pacific region. A global league of the future ensures that fans all over the world will have a professional team to root for, and will be able to witness Overwatch played at the highest level." a Blizzard spokesperson said.
Blizzard will host a so-called combine prior to the start of the season, inviting the best players to try out for teams. Once there, players will be evaluated across a number of skills in order to identify the best. Those selected during this signing period will be offered competitive full-time contracts.
Overwatch launched in May 2016 for PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Since the game's release Blizzard shipped over 20 million units of the game.