Heroes of the Storm news » 2016 Global Championship Circuit Announced at BlizzCon!

We’re only a few frenzied games away from crowning our very first Heroes of the Storm World Champions on the BlizzCon stage, but before our final teams square off in the Nexus, we‘ve got some exciting news to share with you about our plans for the 2016 Heroes of the Storm Global Championship Circuit!

Global Championship Circuit Basic Structure

We’re going to hold three Global Championships over the course of 2016—one in spring, another during summer, and the third during fall. In order to earn one of the twelve open seats at each of these events, teams must first brawl their way to the top by defeating the competition in their respective regions, which will include Australia/New Zealand, China, Europe, Korea, Latin America, North America, Southeast Asia, and Taiwan.

Regional competitions will function independently from one another, with individual formats and structures, so that each region can determine the absolute best teams that they have to offer. Additionally, in order to help feed players and teams into regional competition, we’re going to not only hold open team qualifiers, but will also partner up with major tournament organizers to run sanctioned third party tournaments as part of the Global Championship Circuit.

Building Sustainability

During 2015, teams from all around the world faced off on the action-packed Road to BlizzCon, and we’re incredibly proud of everything they accomplished during our pilot year for Heroes of the Storm esports. Next year, we have a number of goals that we want to achieve in order to create an even better system for Heroes competition.

For starters, we’d like to put even stronger support systems in place so that existing teams can continue to thrive, create a more sustainable esports environment where new teams can emerge, as well as provide individual, high-MMR players who have not yet jumped into esports with even more opportunities to show they have what it takes to compete on a global stage.

What’s more, by supporting third party tournaments and open team qualifiers in each region, we hope to create in-region infrastructure and competitions that will offer teams from all over the world the chance to test their mettle in the Global Championship Circuit. We’d also like to create even more epic moments throughout the year, where viewers can watch and cheer on their favorite teams as regional champions battle each other in the Nexus.

If you and your teammates are hoping to join the fray next year, then grab your keyboards and start practicing now! The competition begins in January, and our first Global Championship kicks off later in the spring, with a prize pool of $500,000 USD. Stay tuned to HeroesoftheStorm.com/esports for more details over the coming weeks, and make sure to catch this year’s World Championship Grand Finals LIVE by heading to BlizzCon.com right now!