【Japan Archives】

Blizzard revealed the first seven cities and Japan Archivesteam owners participating in Blizzard's pro-level OverwatchLeague today. OverwatchLeague Commissioner Nate Nanzer also revealed that participating teams will have in-game items that players can equip to show their support.

In an interview, Nanzer revealed that Blizzard is planning on releasing team-branded hero skins, sprays, and player icons.

"Something that we're really excited about at Blizzard is doing really robust in-game items around these teams: having skins and sprays and player icons and things like that available for fans who play Overwatchto show their support for San Francisco or LA or Shanghai," Nanzer said. "That work is ongoing and we'll probably have an announcement prior to the launch of the league around what that's gonna look like."

When asked whether teams will receive revenue from sales of the in-game items, Nanzer said: "Yeah, absolutely," confirming that these items will be available for purchase in some form.

Other games that are popular esports have similar revenue streams for teams based on the sale of digital goods. Professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensiveteams make money when players and fans buy digital, team-branded stickers to put on their weapons.

Additionally, OverwatchLeague teams will share revenue from other sources, Nanzer said.

"The teams share in all the global revenues generated by the league, whether that's global sponsorship, global media rights for the content, global physical merchandise as well as virtual merchandise, as well as tickets and other things for league-run events," he said.