Blizzard Entertainment and ESL Faceit Group (EFG) have today announced the Overwatch Champions Series (OWCS), the next chapter of the game’s esports circuit.
The OWCS promises to be an esports circuit that is ‘open, always-on, and global’, and replaces to recently shuttered Overwatch League. The news comes after it was reported that Saudi would host the next Overwatch tournament circuit – and now it’s been confirmed, given EFG is owned by the Saudi state’s Public Investment Fund.
The international competition circuit is open to players across North America, Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and Asia. EFG will operate the Overwatch Champions Series in EMEA and North America. An Asia OWCS circuit will operate under WDG, a tournament organiser based in Korea.
Each region will have its own set of open qualifiers and tournaments, culminating with two live in-person international events.
In addition to establishing EFG as the premier operator of the OWCS, a press release stated that ‘the multi-year deal enables Blizzard Entertainment to take advantage of EFG’s full suite of properties to create an open, inclusive, and sustainable competitive community’.
“A thriving esports scene is important to a game as competitive as Overwatch 2, and we’re very excited to be entering this next era for the franchise with EFG,” said Jared Neuss, Executive Producer of Overwatch 2.
“OWCS introduces a new era of Overwatch esports while honoring the traditions and passion built by Overwatch esports,” said Craig Levine, Co-CEO, ESL Faceit Group. “Together with Blizzard Entertainment, EFG is well-positioned to create a truly global experience on the Faceit platform and at DreamHack festivals.”
Live Overwatch Champions Series Events at DreamHack Festivals
The Overwatch Champions Series OWCS will feature two tentpole tournaments in 2024 hosted at EFG’s gaming lifestyle festival DreamHack.
First, eight of the world’s top teams will head to Dallas from May 31st to June 2nd 2024 for the DreamHack Dallas Major, a double-elimination tournament featuring eight of the world’s top teams.
Later in the year, teams from all three regions will come together for the World Finals at DreamHack Stockholm from November 22nd to 24th in Sweden for the first live Tier 1 Overwatch competition in Europe in more than five years. Eight teams will compete for the first-ever OWCS championship title.
“OWCS introduces a new era of Overwatch esports while honoring the traditions and passion built by Overwatch esports. Together with Blizzard Entertainment, EFG is well-positioned to create a truly global experience on the Faceit platform and at DreamHack festivals.”
Craig Levine, ESL Faceit Group
Faceit will provide an open infrastructure for amateur and pro players in the Overwatch 2 community. Users will be able to find a network of players to connect with and events to compete in.
The platform will support tournament organisers and community leaders looking to produce third-party competitions and community experiences.
In other Saudi-related esports news today, the Esports World Cup Foundation and gaming developer Moonton Games today announced Mobile Legends: Bang Bang as the first confirmed title for the inaugural Esports World Cup in Summer 2024.
More details including the qualification processes are available on PlayOverwatch.com
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
