Update: Uprising was a bit premature, but Overwatch League Vice President John Spencer confirmed on Twitter that the League will indeed be giving away games and OWL tokens. All teams are expected to join "soon," but at this point it appears that none of the teams are up and running yet. We will update again as soon as we know which teams are participating.

A funny thing happened on the Boston Uprising website today: for about an hour, the Overwatch League team was offering free copies of Overwatch to anyone who filled out a form on this "getoverwatch" page. There were some restrictions: the free copies were only available for the PC version via Battle.net, and you had to be at least 13 years old and live in the US. Otherwise, anyone who wanted the game could request a copy.

This seemed a bit odd to me, since there was no word of this giveaway from Blizzard, the Overwatch League, or Uprising itself. And sure enough, the page was removed shortly after 2 p.m. Eastern time. Shortly after 2 p.m. Eastern time, the page was taken down.

Some fans have speculated that the giveaway could be a prelude to a free-to-play transition for "Overwatch," but I'm not sure how likely that is. The free game was only offered on PC through a code for Battle.net, not consoles, and code requests had to be submitted by January 15, 2021, and redeemed by January 31. It is also possible that this was part of a promotion for the Grand Finals, which will be held October 8-11. Ironically, Boston will not participate in the Grand Final, having been eliminated in the second round of the playoffs on September 4.

What seems unlikely is that this is some sort of prelude to "Overwatch 2." Recent leaks have suggested that more information about it could be released in early 2021, which would make sense with Blizzard's plans to hold BlizzCon online in February, but it would not take place until more than a month after the gift period ends.

But clearly something is going on. I received an email stating that I could request a code before the giveaway campaign ended and that I would receive a code within 72 hours. I have contacted Blizzard for more information and will update if I hear back