Before the Official Overwatch League begins Blizzard has announced Overwatch Contenders.

Overwatch Contenders will be a development league for the future of the Overwatch league. Similar to the Challenger scenes in League of Legends it will function as a way for players to prove themselves on a more global scale.

Overwatch Contenders is currently only going to be in North America and Europe and its inaugural season will be Season Zero. Season Zero is open to sign-ups and will be an online-only tournament, so no LAN to kick things off. Winners in each region will be awarded $50,000 and an invite to Season One of Overwatch Contenders. Season One will be LAN, and the prize pool will be increased to $100,000 per region.

While we don't know when the Overwatch League will take place, Overwatch Contenders is scheduled to start June 3. After that, the top 16 teams move on to the Group Stage starting June 17, and the final 8 will play in the finals on July 1.

You'll be able to watch everything on Twitch here and on MLG here. If you're interested in competing, you can sign-up here.