On Saturday morning, a team of Australian underdogs begin their final push at World Cup glory.

This is the World Cup of Overwatch, a video game developed by Blizzard Entertainment and played by more than 35 million people around the world.

Team Australia qualified for these play-offs by fighting out of their Overwatch World Cup group stage, hosted in Sydney.

But the challenge ahead of them in California on Saturday (AEST) as one of the top eight teams in the world is steep.

Awaiting them are eSports titans like South Korea and the United States, as well as rising powers like China and the United Kingdom.

But Australia has been handed some luck — and they're ready to upset the eSports world.

Australian eSports has it tough. Really tough

To use a uniquely Australian term to describe the challenge faced by local gamers trying to make it big in the world of eSports — you might say they're up the creek without a paddle.

Traditional sports still dominate the Australian psyche and our low population means there's a smaller talent pool.

Most importantly, Australia is simply a long way from anywhere else in the world and lacks the infrastructure when it comes to competitive internet speeds.

Compare things to South Korea, home to the the undisputed champions of Overwatch, where the game is so popular there are billboards in subway stations just to celebrate players' birthdays.

Loading

Australia's team for the Overwatch World Cup is made up of Aussie players from Blank Esports — a professional eSports organisation covering the Oceanic region.

Andrew "Rqt" Haws is the captain of Blank Esports (and Team Australia) and he says Australians just have it extra tough in the world of competitive gaming.

Determined to do better than Australia's 13th-place finish at the 2016 Overwatch World Cup, Blank went to Taiwan before the Group Stage to find better opposition and hone their skills.

Mitch "Uber" Leslie is an Australian eSports commentator who has worked in 17 different countries, and he says it's the kind of move that defines Australian eSports teams.

"We have such a burning desire to overcome whatever obstacles we can to compete," he said.

"It's that burning desire to prove ourselves on a world stage that fuels us."

The Blank Esports team of Daniel "Doctor" Russell, Ashley "Trill" Powell, Huseyin "Hus" Sahin, Jordan "Gunba" Graham, Daniel "HooWoo" MacIntosh, Andrew "Rqt" Haws, Jason "ieatuup" Ho and Jason "SereNity" Wang. ( Facebook: Blank Esports )

Having a chance at the World Cup meant leaving home

It would have been easy to Blank to relax after qualifying for the Overwatch World Cup play-offs.

But they didn't — the team went back overseas to chase quality opposition in regions where eSports are a much bigger deal.

What's Overwatch? Overwatch is a competitive first-person shooter video game where six players team up to secure or defend points on a map or escort a payload across a map in a limited time. Players take control of one of 25 heroes, each with different abilities that can change the course of a match. Since launching in May 2016, its creators say more than 30 million people have played the game.

Playing out of a rented Airbnb in Taipei rigged up like a LAN party, Blank secured a solid third-place finish at the Overwatch Pacific Championship and then booked its Shanghai spot, reaching the quarter-finals of the extremely competitive APAC Premier tournament.

To chase those overseas tournaments, Rqt quit his job to make an eSports career a possibility.

"I've been outside of Australia more than I've been in it this year," he said.

The team aren't naive to the challenge that awaits them at the Overwatch World Cup play-offs.

Conquering teams like the United States (where eSports is much more mature), Sweden (bronze medallists from last year's World Cup) and China (a rapidly rising force in Overwatch) is an enormous challenge.

And that's before you even mention South Korea.

Thankfully for Team Australia, they've literally found the luck of the draw

Australia will face Canada in the first round of the Overwatch World Cup top eight on Saturday.

America, China and South Korea are on the other side of the draw.

That's like a tennis player avoiding a match-up with Roger Federer until the finals of a grand slam.

Let's talk Meta Like any eSport, Overwatch players must adapt as the games creators Blizzard makes tweaks and changes. It's known as the meta. It's like a rule changing between AFL seasons, but the changes have MUCH greater impact. Heading into the World Cup, Blank will face a meta that has been significantly shaken up by some recent changes to the support hero Mercy. Uber says the tweaks open up more options when it comes to hero selection for Blank (expect to see some more Pharah and Roadhog play) and Rqt says it'll allow the side to be more creative — in other words, it's good news for Australia.

Most national teams in the Overwatch World Cup are made up from a number of players from different professional teams.

But being a superstar player in Overwatch will only get you so far. Success comes from outstanding teamwork.

The Australian Overwatch National Committee, which includes Uber, went an unusual route and chose the entire Blank Esports roster because of their ability to work as a unit.

"No one thought we'd make top eight. It's a huge honour … but it wouldn't be too bad to give these teams hell on the way through," he said.

Rqt says his teams' extensive overseas tournament experience means Australia is more than up for the challenge in California.

"I'm confident in our abilities to make it deep in the play-offs," he said.

"We've put up good results so far so I hope we can continue to do so, not just for ourselves but as a representative of an unrepresented region."

Bringing success at the World Cup back to Australia

For the players at Blank, and for Uber, there's a hope one day Australians who want a career in eSports won't face the same challenges they have.

"Right now, they're doing it at a personal cost, at a fiscal cost, and that's hard to do," Uber said.

Overwatch is one of the newest contenders on the eSports scene, and doesn't yet have the foundations compared to a more established game like League of Legends.

But that's changing.

Blizzard is about to launch the first ever Overwatch League in January next year (hosted in a stadium it built just for eSports) with teams backed by the same companies that own the NBA's Denver Nuggets and the NFL's New England Patriots.

A career in eSports can be a notoriously fickle one, but in the Overwatch League players will be signed on a minimum one-year $US50,000 contract with health insurance and savings plans.

They'll compete for a prize pool of $US3.5 million ($4.5 million).

Uber will be there, having signed on as a commentator for the inaugural season with Blizzard.

"What's most important to me and I think most of the guys on the Overwatch League is to make sure there's a ecosystem set up for these players to not only get by and play the game, but also thrive," he said.

And just like the Overwatch League, traditional Australian sporting teams are beginning to invest in eSports.

Big crowds turned out for the OWWC Sydney group stage, impressing tournament organisers. ( Blizzard Entertainment )

In May, the Adelaide Crows acquired League of Legends team Legacy eSports, and Uber said they won't be the last.

"I guarantee right now there are many investors and teams not unlike the Adelaide Crows that are now looking at things like this," he said.

For Rqt and his fellow players, the move signals "real legitimacy" for a career they've sacrificed a lot to pursue.

"I just want to see people and organisations to continue to take interest in Australian eSports. That's what we're missing. And of course good internet," he said.

Uber said the successful Sydney World Cup group stage had made the Overwatch and broader eSports community stand up and take notice.

There was a packed house of knowledgeable local fans, the overseas broadcasters led "Aussie Aussie Aussie" chants and eSports got a rare live broadcast of a match on commercial television (airing directly before an AFL fixture).

"Tournament organisers … said we have to go back this is one of the best things we've ever done," Uber said.

"And for the players as well it's the understanding that there are investors now starting to cast their eyes over Australia as a region that might be worthwhile in terms of getting involved with that eSports industry, despite all the challenges."

Loading...