2 months after killing the Overwatch League, Blizzard teams up with Saudi Arabia's esports org for 'a new era of Overwatch esports'
As promised, Blizzard has unveiled «the next chapter» of professional Overwatch esports: The Overwatch Champions Series, a multi-region competitive circuit that will culminate in two major tournaments at Dreamhack.
The Overwatch Champions Series will be operated in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa by, an esports company owned by Saudi Arabia's Savvy Games Group, which in recent years has moved aggressively, and sometimes controversially, to become a major player on the global videogame scene.
Competitions in Asia will be run by Korean organizer WDG. 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, which runs May 31-June 2, and then the World Finals at Dreamhack Stockholm on November 22-24.
«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,» Overwatch 2 executive producer Jared Neuss said.
Blizzard said when it ended the Overwatch League that it was «evolving competitive Overwatch in a new direction,» and it's not surprising to see it move toward a more typical esports structure. The idea of establishing an esports league in a format similar to conventional pro sports leagues, with city-based teams competing in home-and-away games over a set schedule, was bold but never caught on.
Live competitions, a central element of the Overwatch League plan, were shut down before they really got underway due to the Covid-19 pandemic, while the expense of operating teams and workplace misconduct scandal at Activision Blizzard—which drove away major advertisers—took a further toll. Activision first acknowledged in May 2023 that the Overwatch League was in trouble, and finally ended it in November 2023, although it promised information on «a revitalized esports program… in the near future,» which apparently is now.
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