The Overwatch World Cup is back!
After a three-year absence, the Overwatch World Cup is back with its opening day happening on Tuesday, February 7. This coincides with the release of season 3 for Overwatch 2, which also features a new map, the Antarctic Peninsula.
Once players update and enter their game, they will be greeted with a free weapon charm and that's just the tip of the iceberg. February 7 will also be the start of the World Cup Season 3 Challenge.
And from February 10 to 26 will be the Overwatch World Cup Trials, a series of open tournaments that will determine who will get a spot in the country and regional team tryouts. As for its format, it will be a double-elimination, randomly-seeded bracket.
The team tryouts and eventual selections are expected to happen sometime in March with the World Cup Qualifiers taking place in June. The winning team of each World Cup Trial will walk away with 2,000 USD while the winning players will secure a spot in the March tryouts. It is open to multiple regions and countries in order to give everyone a chance in representing their country at the Overwatch World Cup 2023.
Americas Conference (AMER)
Group A Organiser: LigaACE
Group B Organiser: GamersClub (Opens Feb. 3)
Europe and Middle East Conference (EMEC)
Group A Organiser: GameBattles
Group B Organiser: GameBattles
Asia-Pacific Conference (APAC)
Group A Organiser: WDG
Group B Organiser: Let's Play Live and Roof Esports
There will also be the Overwatch 2 Wild Card Challenge that will take place sometime in May this year. It's open to six regions vying for only two spots in the open qualifiers. Each participating team will battle in a single round-robin format with all six teams coming from the EMEC region. Group A features Denmark, Ireland, and Portugal while Group B has Finland, Switzerland, and the United Arab Emirates.
Given that all six teams are from the EMEC region, they will join the EMEC online qualifiers in June. This will expand the initial six-team list to accommodate two more spots from the open qualifiers.
If you think you have what it takes to represent your nation in the Overwatch World Cup later this year, click on the link of your respective country as mentioned earlier above. Be sure to stay tuned as we'll be on the lookout for more official announcements from Blizzard.