Lee "Bishop" Beom-joon was appointed the team's first head coach and guided London to claim the league's first stage championship in 2018.

Formed in March 2016, London Spitfire originally started out as the Overwatch branch of American esports organisation Cloud9.

[5] Pete Vlastelica, an executive in Activision Blizzard's esports division, reported that several unnamed European companies were interested in purchasing the London rights to hold an Overwatch League franchise.

[8][9] Shortly afterwards on 4 November, they disclosed their 12-player inaugural season roster, the maximum permitted, which would be entirely composed of South Korean players.

The roster would mainly be an amalgamation of their current Cloud9 KONGDOO core and OGN's Overwatch APEX Season 4 champions GC Busan.

The team then became the first-ever stage playoffs champions, after achieving victories over the Houston Outlaws, 3–1, and the New York Excelsior, 3–2.

[13] In March, midway through Stage 2, the Spitfire parted ways with head coach Lee "Bishop" Beom-joon for undisclosed reasons.

[30] However, after all live events were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Spitfire relocated to Seoul, South Korea, to compete in league's Asia region.

[35] The team also left South Korea to play remotely from the United States and Sweden to compete in the league's Western region.

The name and shield-like logo were selected to pay homage to the British military plane Supermarine Spitfire, whose use during World War II by the Royal Air Force (RAF) reflected the spirit of bravery the team hoped to identify with.

The Spitfire, along with the Vancouver Titans, relocated to Seoul, South Korea that year to increase the number of teams competing in the leagues Asian region.

Grand Finals MVP All-Star Game selections On 15 February 2018, the Spitfire formally announced that their academy team for Overwatch Contenders Europe would be called the British Hurricane, and revealed their all-European Season One squad.