Two months after killing off its ill-fated Overwatch League, Blizzard has just unveiled what the next chapter of professional Overwatch esports will look like.
Dubbed the Overwatch Champions Series, Blizzard has announced that this will be a multi-region competitive circuit that will culminate in two major tournaments at Dreamhack.
From what we know, The Overwatch Champions Series will be operated in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. This league will be brought to us by an esports company owned by Saudi Arabia’s Savvy Games Group.
Each region will have its own set of open qualifiers and tournaments, leading up to two in-person international events: The first at the Dreamhack Dallas Major and then the World Finals at Dreamhack Stockholm.
Today, we are excited to introduce the new Overwatch Esports program and the Overwatch Champions Series!
🔗 Read our Blog https://t.co/rZ3FeYR6aL pic.twitter.com/0MKtSv3Fuf
— Overwatch Esports (@OW_Esports) January 23, 2024
Overwatch 2 executive producer Jared Neuss had this to say about this new era for Overwatch:
“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.”
However, despite this shift in focus, the Overwatch Champions League still has some significant challenges that lie before it. Blizzard still needs a publishing partner for Overwatch in China, with players in that region losing access to it, alongside other Blizzard games in January 2023 because of a falling-out with NetEase.
And then there are still issues with the game itself; earlier this month, Blizzard announced a significant change to the game that gave all players a self-healing ability, reducing their reliance on support players and turning a game that used to rely on teamwork and competition into a my-gun-is-bigger-than-yours fest.
While simplifying Overwatch 2 in this way will undoubtedly make the game more accessible for casual players, it’s yet to be seen how this will impact the pro scene, where complexities are usually a significant selling point.
But now we want to know from you: do you think the new Overwatch Champions League will be a success? Let us know in the comments.