Photo: ESL
December 16-18 will be a big weekend for Blizzard esports.
After winning four awards at the 2016 Game Awards, including the one for best esports game, Overwatch will stop for a big display in Gyeonggi, South Korea on December 16-18 as part of the IEM Season XI circuit. The event will be the first time Overwatch will be played at a stadium in front of an audience and will also mark the start of the 2017 WCS circuit for StarCraft 2.
This will be the second time ESL invest $100,000 in an Overwatch live event, following the success of the Atlantic Showdown at Gamescom, where Rogue ran away with the gold ahead of Reunited, EnVy and Fnatic. Overwatch’s next trip to Korea, however, will feature no American teams and will be a battle between Europe and Asia with six invited teams total.
IEM Gyeonggi will come in the wake of the OGN APEX Season 1, whose finals are set to be played December 7. Afreeca Blue and EnVyUs are the last two teams remaining, with Korea have a real shot at establishing LAN dominance over the Overwatch scene after the sweeping success at the Blizzcon World Cup.
