On 2 August 2018, Activision Blizzard announced that Nenking Group, owner of Guangzhou Loong Lions, purchased a seat for Guangzhou in Overwatch League. 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. On 8 November, the Nenkeng Group announced that the Guangzhou team would be called the Guangzhou Charge. Two weeks later, the Charge announced nine players of their inaugural roster – four DPS, four supports, and one tank. The Charge signed Cho "J1N" Hyo-jin as the team's head coach on 3 December 2018.
Inaugural season
On 15 February 2019, Guangzhou Charge played their first regular season OWL match against the Chengdu Hunters, in which the charge lost 2–3. The team's first victory came a week later – a 4–0 sweep against the Dallas Fuel. The team had a subpar performance throughout the first three stages of the 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 9th place in the overall standings, Guangzhou qualified for the Play-In Tournament, where they defeated the Chengdu Hunters in the first round, 4–1. 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.
Team identity
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 vision for a competitive team that plays aggressive and bold." 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. "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"
Personnel
Current roster
Head coaches
Awards and records
Seasons overview
Individual accomplishments
All-Star Game selections
Shu – 2019
Academy team
On 13 March 2019, GZ Academy, also known as GZA, was founded as the academy team of Guangzhou Charge. 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. 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 had been signed as the new academy team of Guangzhou Charge, rebranding themselves to T1w.GZA.
