Overwatch League will play its fifth season on an early build of Overwatch 2 starting in April, according to comments made by a League spokesperson to Sean Collins of Dallas Morning News on Friday and then confirmed by OWL VP Jon Spector. This is the first confirmation that the new season will be played on Overwatch 2.

In addition to confirming the next season's start date, Jon Spector also said that we will be receiving more details about the next season and relative roster timelines soon. It will be interesting to see how the rosters of the various OWL teams are impacted by Overwatch 2, which is set to launch in a 5v5 format instead of a 6v6 format, cutting one of the tank slots from the game. 

The announcement of OWL's 2022 season starting date comes weeks after a rumor went around that the next OWL season would be delayed until Summer of 2022, in the hopes of kicking off OWL Season 5 on the sequel to Overwatch. It would seem those rumors were untrue.

The news that 2022's OWL season will kick off on an unfinished build of the game drew mixed reactions. Many were excited at the prospect of getting a look at the highly anticipated sequel. Others were cautious but optimistic. OWL commentator Wolf Shroder, for example, called the move "extremely risky" but also admitted that "It might be the best move" for League viewership.

OWL teams responded with exuberant excitement at the prospect of kicking off the next season on an Overwatch 2 build.

We will keep you updated as we learn more about the next OWL season and Overwatch 2.