Blizzard has announced the inaugural Overwatch World Cup, with proceedings kicking off next week and culminating with finals at Blizzcon 2016 in November.
The tournament will feature teams hailing from most nations and regions where Overwatch is played, and participants in each team will be voted by players and spectators from a list of nominees determined by Blizzard. These nominees will include "pro gamers, skilled community personalities from the area, and local players who've climbed the ranks in Season 1 of Competitive Play".
Voting kicks off on August 11, followed by online qualifiers in September. The format will be best-of-three, single-elimination, with the best sixteen teams facing off at Blizzcon in November. The finals will include six teams from Europe, six from Asia-Pacific and four from the Americas. A full list of competing nations and regions can be seen over on the announcement page.
There's no prize pool as such, but members of the 16 finalist teams will "receive an appearance bonus and a free trip to BlizzCon". If you can't make it to Blizzcon in person, Blizzard is once again offering virtual tickets to the event, which allows no-holds-barred streaming. Blizzcon takes place November 4-5.
