Overwatch World Cup 2018 Details Announced

Details for this year’s Overwatch World Cup have been announced where Overwatch players from all [...]

By Tanner Dedmon

Overwatch World Cup
(Photo: Blizzard)

Details for this year's Overwatch World Cup have been announced where Overwatch players from all over the world will compete under their country's flag to see who will take the top spot.

Blizzard revealed the new details earlier today through the Overwatch League's site while also confirming that the finals will take place in Southern California during this November.

"Two years ago, we debuted the Overwatch World Cup, and 2017 saw it evolve and expand further," Blizzard said. "Now it's time to announce the return of this global celebration of high-level play: the 2018 Overwatch World Cup, which culminates this November in Southern California."

This competition allows the best players from each country to have a shot at competing against their peers from other countries on the big stages. Blizzard went on to explain exactly how this year's Overwatch World Cup will work with some differences from last year, all of those details explained below.

Qualification

Qualification for those looking to participate in the Overwatch World Cup has now begun following Blizzard's official announcement with the qualification period ending at the end of the current competitive season.

"From today through the end of Competitive Season 9 (April 28), we'll be tracking the average skill rating (SR) of each country's top 150 players. Each country's progress can be tracked on the Overwatch World Cup website. The top 20 countries at the end of this period will be invited to compete in the 2018 Overwatch World Cup."

While the finals will be held in California, the group stage will be hosted in four different countries with each of those countries seeing their nation's team automatically added to the tournament.

"This year, the four Group Stage host countries will be France, South Korea, Thailand, and the United States. These countries will automatically qualify into the tournament, resulting in a total of 24 teams. If a host country makes the top 20 through average SR, the 21st-ranked country will take their spot—and so on."

Committees

Overwatch Committees
(Photo: Blizzard)

Compared to previous competitions, this year's Overwatch World Cup will also see a different way that committees are formed. Blizzard said that each committee would be formed of three key people: A GM, a coach, and a community lead. Each member of the committees will be paid for their work as well as having their travel expenses paid for with each member of the committee being chosen in the following ways.

GM:

  • GMs will be selected by Blizzard. Applications will be accepted, but we also will scour each country for qualified individuals, whether players, talent, or community members. (Application links for all three positions will be provided at a later date.)

Coach:

  • Phase 1: Any player with an account in good standing may apply for their national team's coach position. Candidates will be provided with a custom URL to share, which will allow the top 150 players (by SR) from the candidate's country of residence to endorse one candidate.
  • Phase 2: We reveal the top three candidates per country, and hold a second, runoff vote, again among the top 150 players. Each player may vote once.

Community Lead:

  • Phase 1: This will follow the same process as coach selection, but voting is open to the country's entire player base. Players may vote for multiple community leads.
  • Phase 2: We reveal each country's top 10 candidates, and players cast one final vote.

Results of the committees will be revealed on May 31.

Players

Overwatch League OWL

Rounding out the Overwatch World Cup announcements were details on what the best players from each country can do to get involved.

After these committees are formed in the ways that Blizzard previewed above, each of the committees will then hold tryouts to allow players to join the teams. Blizzard set some regulations on how the players will be chosen and how many players can be on each team, but players will have to put their best forward since Overwatch League players are also eligible for the competition.

"Committees will hold tryouts from June 1 through July 5. Players—including Overwatch League members!—can compete for a spot on the team of their country of citizenship. Committees will submit rosters, which may contain up to 12 players, from June 15 through July 5. Blizzard will work with the players and committees to identify seven players from each roster who will travel to applicable live events."

Overwatch World Cup 2017 as an Example

Watch OWWC 2017 | Final | CA vs. KR from PlayOverwatch on www.twitch.tv

If this is your first time expressing interest in the Overwatch World Cup, it might be a bit much to take in. Even when you're just a spectator, there are still many questions of how to watch the games and how the system works, but last year's World Cup should serve as a helpful example.

During the Overwatch World Cup 2017, the top 32 teams from different countries were eligible for the competition, so this year will feature fewer teams as explained in Blizzard's Qualification details. Through group stages and later competitions, the teams were eliminated until there were only four teams left: Sweden, Canada, France, and South Korea. This led to South Korea winning the championship match against Canada with Sweden taking third place in a match against France.

That championship match between the two teams can be seen above to hold Overwatch players and spectators over until Blizzard reveals more details about the Overwatch World Cup 2018.

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