Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, has commented on Cloud9’s newly revealed London Spitfire team for the upcoming Overwatch League.
“London leads the world in creativity and cutting-edge technology and the city’s games and esports industry plays a major part in that success,” he said in a press release published about the team today.
“Good luck to all those representing the capital on the London Spitfire team in the Overwatch League.”
London Spitfire is the latest team to be unveiled which will be taking part in the Overwatch League. The spot is owned by North American based esports organisation Cloud9.
It’s one of 12 city-based teams from around the globe – such as the Los Angeles Valiant (Immortals) – set to compete in the inaugural season of the Overwatch League.
The roster is as follows:
It’s a bird!
It’s a plane!
It’s @unitlostgaming introducing the London Spitfire roster for the @overwatchleague inaugural season! pic.twitter.com/yVxkmEE4SJ— London Spitfire (@Spitfire) 4 November 2017
The name Spitfire was chosen as an homage to the iconic British aircraft used by the Royal Air Force from around the World War II era (it’s also the name of a great song by the Prodigy)!
One of the playable characters in Overwatch, Lena “Tracer” Oxton, was also a former RAF member in the game’s lore.
“Good luck to all those representing the capital on the London Spitfire team in the Overwatch League.”
Sadiq Khan
Cloud9 asked their fans to send in name suggestions and they resoundingly picked Spitfire.
A recent report found that Cloud9 are the most-followed esports team in the UK.
There’s even an Overwatch-based comedy show coming to London.
“We’re excited to represent London in the Overwatch League with the Spitfire,” said Jack
Etienne, Owner of Cloud9. “We’ve put together a fantastic team and are anxious to see them in action in the debut season of the Overwatch League early next year.”
We’re excited to announce our @overwatchleague brand, London Spitfire!
Watch us take flight: @Spitfire pic.twitter.com/TPdMK6XdMs— Cloud9 (@Cloud9) 1 November 2017
Matt Hancock, Minister of State for Digital, added: “British people have a great love of video games – the UK market for games was worth £4.3 billion in 2016 and is the fifth largest in the world.
“I’m looking forward to seeing the global phenomenon that is esports flourish in the UK, and it’s a great endorsement of the strength of the UK scene that the first official European Overwatch team has come to London.”
Overwatch recently reached a new milestone of 35 million players.
The Overwatch team recently announced a number of features aiming to improve the game’s esports viewing experience.
Ladies and gentlemen, introducing a sneak peek of six of the @Spitfire team uniform skins. Don’t forget to tell us which is your favorite! pic.twitter.com/oIWCDFanD6
— London Spitfire (@Spitfire) 5 November 2017
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Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
