ESports' Overwatch League Announces Its First Female Player

Image copyright Getty Images - Ken Ishii

eSports' Overwatch League has finally announced its first female player.

Kim "Geguri" Se-Yeon is joining the Shanghai Dragons and will be one of the very few female players in eSports competing at a top professional level.

There's been a lot of speculation about it online in recent weeks, but it was finally confirmed by the team on Twitter on Wednesday.

It comes after recent discussions about the lack of female involvement in the league.

The league, which started in 2017, sees gamers battle it out in the popular first-person shooting game Overwatch.

The Overwatch League, specifically, sparked a debate as to why there are so few female gamers in the electronic sport.

Critics pointed out that Overwatch showcases a variety of diverse female characters - yet the league featured a lack of women.

Geguri is an experienced gamer with a win-rate of 80% and used to play for the ROX Orcas in her home country of South Korea.

She joins Shanghai Dragons with two fellow South Koreans, Lee "Fearless" Eui-Seok and Cheon "Ado" Ki-hyun, and He "Sky" Junjian from China.

In its press release, the team say the new signings address "core problems".

Let's hope it does just that as the Shanghai Dragons have failed to win a single series in stage one.

Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 every weekday on BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra - if you miss us you can listen back here