Blizzcon 2017 will be held as usual in Anaheim, California on November 3rd and 4th, 2017. The annual Blizzcon event threw up a big surprise on us last year with the announcement of the Overwatch League. The hype surrounding the announcement reached a crescendo with the esports community at large discussing the pros and cons of the league. This year, Blizzcon is expected to officially unveil more details and specifics about the Overwatch league. Blizzcon acts as a massive advertising platform for the game developer who has given us superhit gaming titles such as Diablo, Overwatch, Starcraft, Hearthstone etc.

In this article, we will breakdown Blizzcon 2017 with respect to Overwatch. While Blizzcon is much more than just news about Overwatch and OWL, this year all eyes will be on all and any possible news about the Overwatch league. With over $240 million already invested into the venture, there is a lot riding on the success of the Overwatch league. The success of the Overwatch League will have ramifications on the entire esports community.

We will not go into the debate of whether or not Overwatch league will succeed. That’s a hotly contested debate, one which cannot truly be talked about unless we are presented with more details on the Overwatch league. There are pros and cons to both sides of the debate. At the same time, Blizzcon 2017 is the perfect stage for Blizzard to announce more details.

The full schedule for the event can be found on the official Blizzcon Page. We can see Overwatch being a prominent mention throughout the schedule. The greyed out blocks are all events pertaining to Overwatch. They start from the opening ceremony and close just before the closing ceremony. Overwatch is the prime spotlight for this year’s Blizzcon.

Overwatch World Cup

The Overwatch World Cup ( OWWC) was first introduced last year when Blizzard announced that national rosters will be competing against each other. With a tournament featuring National teams being played on the world stage, we saw the prowess of the Korean National team. Of course the actual selection process last year was based more on a player’s’ likability and popularity rather than the actual skill. So many of the western teams ended up having relatively weaker rosters as compared to the Korean squad which resulted in a very one-sided tournament.

Fast forward a year later, Blizzard announced several changes to the way the rosters for OWWC are selected. National committees were formed which then held tryouts for potential players and selections were made based on merit, likeability and team cohesion. The process still retains the human touch to the roster selection process. This is important mainly to understand how a particular group of players can perform better together despite not being the best individual players overall.

There are eight teams that will be playing in this year’s Overwatch World Cup. The tournament features a single elimination format. The prize money is equally distributed ( $9000) amongst all teams, but it is the prestige and fame that matters the most. Last years OWWC was a revelation towards Korean Overwatch teams. It developed a global interest in the Korean scene as well as acknowledging individual players from the region such as Ryujehong, Flower etc.

Will South Korea dominate again?

The matches last year were a whitewash with South Korea winning all their matches with relative ease. This year, however, it will not be so easy for the former champions. All the teams have been formed after a lot of consideration about the team chemistry, roles and performance. The national committees which were entrusted with this duty have, in our opinion, done a commendable job in creating the best teams for their country.

There is also no surprise advantage for the South Korean rosters this year. Not many people knew about the South Korean players last year, hence the big skill disadvantage was more apparent. However, the past year has seen each and every top team study the Korean playstyle and sometimes imitate it as well. The teams are better prepared to pose a formidable challenge for the title.

Overwatch – What’s Next

Blizzcon 2017 is not all about the Overwatch World Cup, however. There are several slots allocated to other talks about Overwatch, it’s future and the Overwatch league. One of the sections is called “Overwatch – Whats next?”. It is a one hour slot in Hall D which plays host to all the Main events.

This stage will be used by the developers to talk about the future of Overwatch. Now a lot of this future is related to Overwatch League and the esports side of Overwatch. However, we believe that this section will be used by the developers to talk about their plans for new features that would be introduced within the game. Overwatch has changed a lot since the last year wherein we have seen several new characters, game modes and balance changes.



Jeff Kaplan will be the most recognizable face on the panel, but he will be accompanied by the people behind the scenes. These “other” developers work hard to ensure that the average player gets the best possible experience. For the future we expect Overwatch to focus less on new events and characters and more on the balance of the game. We have seen in an interview Jeff Kaplan mentioning how the team will be looking forth to releasing around three characters a year. But as time passes, we should expect a lesser number of new characters introduced within the game.

Wait until Blizzcon to watch World Cup playoffs with new spectator mode. Then wait until January for OWL when it will get real. — MonteCristo (@MonteCristo) October 14, 2017



There has been strong rumours and suggestions that the overwatch World Cup will see a new spectator mode. This new spectator mode has already received stamps of approval from prominent Overwatch personalities such as Monte Cristo and the likes. One of the biggest problems in Overwatch is the poor spectating experience and the low viewership numbers. Of course, viewership numbers cannot improve if the spectating experience is poor.

Inside the Overwatch league.

There are several more sections related to Overwatch which give us a glimpse into the world of the Overwatch. From the making of the latest map, Junkertown to loot boxes as well as an Overwatch Streamer Showdown.

However, there is another section which is aptly named “Inside the Overwatch League”. This final segment will see Blizzard unveil new details about the upcoming Overwatch League. The Overwatch League is scheduled to start in January 2018. The pre-season will start in December, which is just a month away from Blizzcon 2017.

There are twelve teams in the inaugural season of Overwatch League. Nine of these teams are from North America, One from Europe, One from China and the final one is based in Korea.

There are twelve teams involved in Season 1. The investors in these teams include a mixture of Esports organisations as well as several non-endemic to esports organisations.

The twelve teams and their investors :

Boston; Robert Kraft and Kraft Group New York Excelsior: Jeff Wilpon and Sterling VC London: Cloud9 and Jack Etienne Los Angeles Valiant: Immortals & Noah Whinston Los Angeles Gladiators: Stan and Josh Kroenke of Kroenke Sports & Entertainment Group Miami Mayhem: Ben Spoont and Misfits San Francisco Shock: Andy Miller and NRG Esports Dallas Fuel: Team EnVyUS Houston: Neil Leibman & Optic Gaming Philadelphia: Comcast Spectacor Shanghai Dragons: NetEase Seoul: Kevin Chou, Kent Wakeford & Phillip Hyun

Most of the teams have finished naming themselves and are in the process of finalising their roster. With twelve members allowed in a team, we will be seeing a very diverse build of rosters in various teams. The Overwatch league will definitely be expanding into the second year. Laying out a proper framework for the inaugural season of Overwatch league is essential to invite more interest into the Overwatch League.

“Inside the Overwatch League” is immediately before the Closing Ceremony is definitely the marquee event at Blizzcon. With a lot of Blizzard’s fortunes resting on the success of the Overwatch League, we should be hearing a lot more in the next few weeks. Blizzcon 2017 starts on the 3rd of November, 2017 at 11 am PDT.

If you are interested in watching Blizzcon 2017, you can buy their virtual ticket which is currently priced at $40. The Virtual ticket grants you access to the various stages. In addition to the viewing experience, you will also receive physical and digital goodies including discounts on other products.

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