On 2 August 2018, Activision Blizzard announced that Nenking Group, owner of Guangzhou Loong Lions, purchased a seat for Guangzhou in Overwatch League.[1][2] On 15 October 2018, Nenking announced that Sonny Xiao, the vice president of Nenking and the president of basketball operations for the Guangzhou Long Lions, would be the CEO of the team, Overwatch developer Eddy Meng would be the COO, and Overwatch management veteran Ethan Liu would be the general manager.[3]
On 8 November, the Nenkeng Group announced that the Guangzhou team would be called the Guangzhou Charge.[4] Two weeks later, the Charge announced nine players of their inaugural roster – four DPS, four supports, and one tank.[5] The Charge signed Cho "J1N" Hyo-jin as the team's head coach on 3 December 2018.[6]
Early years: 2019–present
Charge on stage in 2019
On 15 February 2019, Guangzhou Charge played their first regular season OWL match against the Chengdu Hunters, in which the Charge lost 2–3.[7] The team's first victory came a week later – a 4–0 sweep against the Dallas Fuel.[8] The team had a subpar performance throughout the first three stages of the 2019 season, posting a 9–12 record through 21 matches with no stage playoff appearances. After the implementation of an enforced 2-2-2 role lock by the league, the Charge flourished, losing only one match in their final seven matches to give them a 15–13 record for the season. Finishing in ninth place in the overall standings, Guangzhou qualified for the Play-In Tournament, where they defeated the Chengdu Hunters in the first round, 4–1.[9] However, they were unable to make it season playoffs, as they fell to the Seoul Dynasty by a score of 1–4 the following day.[10]
Entering the 2020 season, the Charge parted ways with five of their 11 players,[11] signing three new players later in the offseason.[12] In the 2020 season, the Charge picked up their first midseason tournament title after defeating the Shanghai Dragons 4–2 in the Summer Showdown finals.[13] At the end of the season, Guangzhou finished as one of the top two seeds in the Asia region.[14] However, losses to the New York Excelsior and Seoul Dynasty in the Asia Bracket of 2020 Overwatch League playoffs eliminated the Charge from postseason contention.[15]
In the 2021 offseason, the Charge released their entire Korean coaching staff, including head coach Cho "J1N" Hyo-jin.[16] Several weeks later, they signed former San Francisco Shock assistant coach Lee "Arachne" Ji-won as their new head coach for the upcoming season.[17] Guangzhou also made major changes to their roster in the offseason, parting ways with seven of their players and signing three new ones.[18] After a 1–3 record to start the 2021 season, the Charge released head coach Lee "Arachne" Ji-won and assistant coach Kim "Daemin" Dae-min, on 6 May 2021.[19] The Charge signed their former assistant coach Sung-woo "Sungwoo" Hong as their new head coach on 17 June.[20] With a 5–11 regular season record, the Charge finished in second-to-last place in the Eastern region, only ahead of the winless Los Angeles Valiant.[21]
On 9 November 2018, the Nenking Group officially announced the brand of their franchise, the Guangzhou Charge. The name was chosen because it expressed the team's "vision to lead the esports movement in China, and to be at the forefront of innovation. It also [expressed the] vision for a competitive team that plays aggressive and bold."[4]
The logo features two stylized letters "G" and "Z", representing Guangzhou. A lightning bolt symbol can be seen in-between the white space of the two letters. The colors represent the scenery of the region, while the name "Charge" represents bold playstyles and innovation in Chinese esports.[4]
"We want to build an international organization and fanbase, so the goal for our team brand was to create a symbol for Guangzhou that people from all of the world can instantly recognize," the team's Marketing and Creative Director Chris Hwang said. "We took inspiration from iconic sports logos where simple letters have grown to represent an entire city"[4]
On 13 March 2019, GZ Academy, also known as GZA, was founded as the academy team of Guangzhou Charge.[23] After a 1–4 finish in their first season of Overwatch Contenders, team shut down on 30 May, citing a focus on preparations for the Charge's 2020 home arena and teamhouse.[24] On 2 July, in the middle of the second season of 2019 Contenders, it was announced that the roster of Chinese Contenders team The One Winner (T1w) had been signed as the new academy team of Guangzhou Charge, rebranding themselves to T1w.GZA.[25] In 2020, the Charge ended their partnership with T1w. Another OWC team Ignition One (IO) was rebranded to Ultra Prime Academy as the academy team of the Charge.[26]
