Overwatch League players to receive minimum $50k annual salary

The winning team in the Overwatch League's first season will receive a minimum of $1 million in bonuses, on top of a minimum $50,000 annual salary for each player.

Creating a commercially stable environment in which players and teams can grow and thrive has been one of Activision Blizzard's core goals since it announced the Overwatch League in November last year. Now, with the first seven participating teams already announced, the publisher has clarified some important details of how those players and teams will be paid.

The total bonuses available to Season 1 teams will be $3.5 million, with at least $1 million guaranteed to the winning team. This is doesn't come close to the $20 million available at Dota 2's The International, but Overwatch League's $3.5 million would still make the top five of Dot Esports' ten biggest prize-pools in a single tournament series.

Overwatch League's city-based franchise system doesn't have relegation, either, so that prize money will be available to the same group of teams each year. Activision Blizzard is still in the process of signing teams, and that prize-pool will likely increase as the league itself grows in size.

In addition to team bonuses, Overwatch teams must pay individual players a minimum of $50,000 a year, as well as providing health insurance, a retirement savings plan, and housing and practice facilities for the duraction of the season. At least 50% of performance bonuses paid to teams by the league will be distributed among the players.

Teams will be able to sign players in an official window, which opens on August 1 and closes on October 30. Each team must have between 6 and 12 rostered players, and those players can be from anywhere in the world.

The Overwatch League is schedule to launch later this year.