All About Overwatch Tournaments and World Championship

The first Overwatch tournament took place in 2015, even before the official release of the game. However, these competitions were very modest, the prize pool there amounted to hundreds of dollars. It was a kind of training before the real championships and cups. In 2016, serious Overwatch esports tournaments began to be held, and the cybersport scene began to take shape.

The official release of the game took place on May 24, 2016, and the Agents Rising tournament started on May 28. It was attended by teams widely known in the world of esports: Team Liquid and Cloud9. The second team won, earning 5 thousand US dollars.

Since then, Overwatch tournaments have been held regularly. Prize funds were growing, new players and teams came to the discipline, and the number of fans increased as well. Tournament broadcasts are gathering a decent audience. Also, fans willingly come to offline events. Such tournaments turn out to be very entertaining due to the atmosphere — thousands of fans do their best to support their favorites. In this regard, esports is becoming more and more similar to traditional sports — Overwatch is no exception.

Types of Overwatch Tournaments

Today there are a wide variety of Overwatch pro tournaments. They differ in the format of the event, the composition of the participants, the prestige, the size of the prize pool. Next, we’ll take a look at a few of the types of tournaments that OW currently has.

Open Division

Blizzard officially supports aspiring esports players. So, a special league was created for them — the Open Division. Gamers who have reached the Master’s rank can get into it. Such players get the opportunity to get into big esports by participating in regular Open Division tournaments, which take place quite often. They are divided into regions. The competition in the leagues is outrageous, but this does not stop aspiring players in esports on their way to their dreams.

Open Division is integrated with the Contenders system, which we will talk about a little later. Thanks to this, beginners can get a chance to make their way to the higher leagues.

Contenders Trials

This Overwatch tournament is the link between the Contenders and the Open Division. This includes the professional teams that performed the worst in the first of the two league seasons. The best players from the Open Division can also take part in the Contenders Trials. It turns out a kind of play-off matches. They are also divided into regions so that teams can easily play with each other online.

According to the results of the Contenders Trials draw, teams can go for a decrease, increase, or maintain their status. They play matches among themselves in Round Robin format. After that, the strongest go to the next Contenders draw, and the weakest to the Open Division.

Contenders

This league is attended by novice esports players who have already been able to declare themselves and achieve certain results on the professional stage. These gamers can look forward to some decent cash prizes. But you always need to keep yourself in shape. Last place in the Contenders league means possible relegation. Having lost in the Contenders Trials, the team will noticeably lose in terms of finances, or may not even enter the big stage at all.

Overwatch League

The Overwatch League is the pinnacle of an esports career. The strongest teams on the planet come here and play regular-season matches for several months. The fight is fierce here because the default league has no prize pool. Cash prizes start in the playoffs and grand finals. They can be as high as millions of dollars. Therefore, the top teams give themselves completely to these matches. Fans in return receive very entertaining and memorable battles. This makes these Overwatch tournaments the most popular in the industry.

Overwatch World Championship — Top Event for the Professionals

Collectives participate in all of the above tournaments. They can be collected from players who represent different countries. Most of the teams are looking to invite South Korean eSports players to join them. But there is an OW tournament, where players represent purely their own country. It’s about the Overwatch World Championship.

This competition is held once a year in late October and early November. The world championship is hosted by the American city of Anaheim, California. Teams are selected using special qualifications. In total, 8-10 strongest national teams of the world participate in the tournament, which defends the honor of their country. Of course, the representatives of South Korea are most successful in this. They won 3 out of 4 championships. Another victory was won by the eSport team from the USA.

The World Championship Overwatch is held in a standard esports format. Teams play in the group stage first. The strongest go to the playoff semi-finals, 2nd and 3rd places in groups — to the quarterfinals. Then the elimination game and heated battles begin.