Blizzard announced plans to bring back an Overwatch World Cup for 2023
In 2023, Blizzard aims to revive the Overwatch World Cup, which will feature 36 different nations and regions from around the globe. Beginning in June 2023, the Overwatch World Cup will have regional qualifiers to choose the top 16 teams that will compete in the group stage and finals in the following fall. Prior to playing at the World Cup qualifiers in June 2023, the best 16 teams from each area are anticipated to compete, and 36 countries will go through trials and selections over the course of a year.
The Overwatch World Championship Qualifier is slated to take place via a regional online tournament when team configurations are finished, reducing 36 teams to 16 for the next stage of the competition. The 36 nations and regions competing in the Overwatch World Cup will be revealed in January, which is also the month in which applications to the Competition Committee are accepted. The grand finals of the competition are scheduled for some time in the fall of 2019, although Blizzard intends to reveal the nations and regions competing at the competition that will take place in January.
Blizzard claims that despite a three-year break, the comeback will be more significant than ever, particularly as the Overwatch League will be the first to be played on Overwatch 2. Along with Blizzard, Overwatch League has also made announcements about what is to come; however, as of right now, its website is largely empty. The return signals that the competitive environment is in better shape than it was last year when the Overwatch League suffered from the ongoing issue of perceived maltreatment at Activision Blizzard and lost big sponsors.
The road to crowning the 2023 Overwatch World Cup Champion kicks off next month 🎉 And it’s gonna be a wild ride 🎢
— Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) December 17, 2022
Get the full rundown 🏆: https://t.co/eKcSF0LggD pic.twitter.com/qFFxJpB2eD
Blizzard offers both standard events and the new Open Tournament style in an effort to encourage more people to participate. The organizers said they will hold a “World Championship Challenges” event, which has the structure of an open tournament, to introduce a new opportunity for players to contend for their team’s roster positions. While it might appear like the pros from the Overwatch League and Overwatch Contenders will likely dominate those positions, Blizzard is hosting an open competition in February called the World Cup Trials that will guarantee the top players a spot on the team’s tryouts.
This fall will see the group stages, a person-to-person round-robin competition, and the finals, which will include the eight top Overwatch 2 teams in the world. Six regional qualifiers will be held in June to narrow the field of 36 teams down to the Top 16. The Overwatch World Cup’s starting phases are slated for January, according to a more thorough timetable posted on Blizzard’s official website. The publisher has picked 36 countries and regions where teams will compete for the championship.