The team name of the Hangzhou Overwatch League franchise might have been revealed
R: Robert Paul for Blizzard EntertainmentThe team name of the Hangzhou Overwatch League franchise seems to have been revealed by a trademark filed by owners Bilibili.
Bilibili is a Chinese video sharing platform with an anime, comics, and games theme. The company bought into the Overwatch League for Season Two, acquiring the Hangzhou franchise as one of eight expansion teams for the upcoming season.
So far, none of the new teams have announced the names and branding under which they’ll be competing, but Hangzhou’s may have been revealed after a Reddit user spotted a trademark filed by Bilibili for the name “Railgun”.
Lending credence to the idea that “Railgun” is indeed the intended name for the Hangzhou team is the fact that it was the winning choice when Bilibili asked their users what name the Overwatch League franchise should be given.
Update pic.twitter.com/03Wi5ch81l
— BaoJie :flag-cn: (@BaojieOW) September 13, 2018
That poll took place on September 13, and it appears that Bilibili immediately filed to trademark the name with China’s Trademark Office. The company doesn’t seem to have filed any additional trademarks since.
The Hangzhou franchise have also not yet announced any of the players that will represent them in their Overwatch League debut. Expansion teams had an exclusive free agent signing window between September 9 and October 7, making it very likely that the team has by now locked up the majority of its starting squad, but no official announcements have been made.
All Overwatch League teams must have at least eight players signed by December 8, and Season Two is expected to kick off in early 2019, although no schedule has yet been revealed.