Overwatch Champions Series 2024: Schedule, format, and more

Overwatch Champions Series (OWCS) 2024 is the revamped format that Blizzard Entertainment has chosen as the hero shooter’s esports future. The publisher has decided to scrap the entire League format and has officially announced this new perspective to provide equal opportunity to the entire community. Players can form teams and compete at the regional level to showcase their talents and rise to the international stage.

The Overwatch Champions Series 2024 will become the new exclusive platform for all professional and aspiring players and is divided into five broad regions - North America (NA), Europe, the Middle East, North Africa (EMEA), and Asia. Blizzard also outlined the match formats and shared a general schedule for various tiers in the official blog post.

This article will highlight everything we know about the OWCS 2024 so far.

When will the Overwatch Champions Series 2024 begin?

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The OWCS 2024 will kickstart from February 2024 with Stage 1 Qualifiers in Asia. The series will enter March 2024 with Stage 1 Qualifiers and Stage 1 Main Event for NA and EMEA, and a continued Asian Round Robin stage (starting with the Asian Stage 1 Qualifiers in February).

April 2024 will have all the Stage 2 Qualifiers and Stage 2 Main Event for NA and EMEA alongside Asia’s Playoffs and Stage 1 Main Event. Once the top teams are seeded from each region, they will enter the International stage and fight for the mid-season title in May 2024.

Stage 3 Qualifiers, Stage 3 Main Event, Stage 4 Qualifiers, and Stage 4 Main Event will be held through August 2024 and conclude in October 2024.

Overwatch Champions Series 2024 Calendar (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

Meanwhile, the Asian counterpart will host its Stage 2 Qualifiers, Round Robin, Playoffs, and Stage 2 Main event till October 2024. All Asian Playoffs will also have some spots reserved for wild-card entries throughout the season.

The seasonal finale will be hosted in November 2024, where all the qualified teams will participate in a battle to covet the champion's title.

The mid-season Majors will be hosted in DreamHack Dallas from May 31 to June 2, 2024. The OWCS 2024 Finals will be held in DreamHack Stockholm, but the exact dates have not been confirmed.

Overwatch Champions Series (OWCS) 2024 format

The official blog has provided us with some clarity on how every region will seed its best teams through rigorous competitive matches.

NA & EMEA

The series will begin with qualifiers in the first week and have a total of nine rounds. The next two weeks will host a group stage and feature the top 16 teams to filter out the ones that performed better than the others.

The top two teams from each group will make it into the main event in week 4. The event will follow a Double Elimination format. This entire process will be run through Blizzard’s new partner, FACEIT.

Asia

The Asian league is divided into four tiers - Tier 4 being the lowest and Tier 1 the highest. Tier 4 will be online open qualifiers for Korea, Japan, and the Pacific regions. Tier 3 is the regional championship, where nine teams from Korea and Japan will compete in a Round Robin format. Eight teams from the Pacific will compete in a Double Elimination format in the same tier. Tier 3 will also have a total of three wild card entries that will participate in a similar Round Robin format.

The top three teams from Korea, the top two from Japan, the top two from the Pacific, and one from the wild card entries will make it to Tier 2 OWCS Asia LAN WDG Esports Studio. The top two teams from this stage will qualify for the Tier 1 International stage and form the final roster of teams alongside other regions.

Blizzard has partnered with FACEIT for Overwatch’s regional scene in NA and EMEA, while WDG Esports Studio manages the entire Asia region. The publisher has also confirmed that the Overwatch Champions Series will host a total of two international events with DreamHack in a single season - one Major and one Final.

Stay tuned to Sportskeeda and check out more Overwatch updates, guides, and news.

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