CJ E&M Corporation's esports broadcaster and tournament organizer OGN will host a 28-team Overwatch league, called Overwatch APEX, from Oct. 7 throughout December, the organization tells ESPN. This league will feature a prize pool of 200,000,000 South Korean Won (KRW), approximately $177,000 USD.
The league will feature 16 teams in its professional level, including 12 from South Korea, who will be determined via online and offline qualifiers. Four international teams from the likes of North America or Europe will receive a direct invite from the company. In the second tier of competition, 12 South Korean Challenger (amateur) teams will compete.
The tournament will feature familiar faces to OGN fans on its English broadcast, including Erik "DoA" Lonnquist and Christopher "MonteCristo" Mykles. Both Lonnquist and Mykles have worked with OGN for several years casting primarily League of Legends but also Hearthstone, StarCraft II and Vainglory.
South Korea will be the first region to launch a regular regional league, officially licensed by Blizzard. Industry sources say that other leagues in North America and Europe have been proposed, but none have been launched yet. North American television network Turner Broadcasting will host its first televised Overwatch matches from its league, the Overwatch Open, on Sep. 30.