The Overwatch World Cup, an international tournament featuring lineups from participating countries rather than esports organizations, has been announced for 2017.
The event, organized by the game's publisher, Blizzard Games, will feature a different format than the 2016 edition, with the aim of providing more live events around the world and a different method for selecting the participants.
The Overwatch World Cup contestants will be selected using a skill tracking system that monitors the top 100 players in each nation and compares them to other countries. The top 32 countries in these rankings will move on to the group stages and be tasked with selecting a lineup of players to represent them in the live event.
The group stages will play out in a LAN setting in North America, Europe and Asia, with the goal of narrowing down 32 teams to the eight that will compete at BlizzCon in the finals of the Overwatch World Cup. Dates have not been set for the group stages, but the finals will take place during the Blizzard event on Nov. 3-4 in Anaheim, California.
South Korea won the 2016 Overwatch World Cup, and Gong "Miro" Jin-hyuk was named tournament MVP.
