Blizzard has announced that the Overwatch World Cup will make its return for 2019 with the event, once again, culminating at BlizzCon. Instead of the event taking place over several group stages in different locations, the OWWC will all take place within one week in Anaheim.
Once again, the Overwatch World Cup will bring the best players in the world together to compete for international bragging rights.
What is the Overwatch World Cup?
The Overwatch World Cup is exactly what it sounds like, the best players from respective nations ban together under their countries’ flag to prove their international dominance in Overwatch. South Korea has won each of the first three OWWC events – going a combined 16-1 in the three finals.
Overwatch World Cup 2019 Format
The preliminary rounds of the OWWC will take place before BlizzCon doors open with all eligible teams competing to earn a place in the Group Stages. The top five ranked teams in the world will receive automatic byes in the Group Stage while the rest of the competing nations will be placed in a single-elimination bracket.
The Group Stage will consist of two groups of five teams. After playing their Group Stage matches, the top six teams will advance to the final playoff bracket with the No.1 and No.2 teams earning byes into the semifinals.
How Will Overwatch World Cup Seeding Be Determined?
The intimal rankings for the Overwatch World Cup will be based on the teams’ performances from the previous three OWWCs. However, the point system will be weighted with the more recent performance in 2018 meaning more than both 2017 and 2016.
All this means we can expect South Korea to earn the No.1 seed and one of the coveted byes into the Group Stage with nations such as Canada, China and Sweden all looking like locks to earn high seeding.
