The decision is a huge pledge of trust for both organizations in upholding the long and storied tradition for the titles. While they have complete ownership of the competitive ecosystem for their newer titles, they defaulted back to ESL and DreamHack for their most famous titles. Kicking off the new decade with a pledge to reinvigorate these titles is a solid sign that Blizzard is still heavily committed to their esports strategy.Īdditionally, the company chose to take the esports competitions on a different route then their other titles (Overwatch, Hearthstone, HoTs). Both titles defined the RTS genre and the early years of competitive esports. Starcraft and Warcraft 3 are two of the establishing titles for global esports. The final event of the year is yet to be announced. The weekly tournaments will also be a gateway for players to reach the four Challenger tournaments and earn themselves a spot in the final event.ĭreamhack will have the honor of hosting three of the four Challenger events in this 2020 season. Similarly to SC2, ESL will take the weekly competition under their control with over 40 weekly Warcraft competitions aimed at amateurs and returning players. With $200,000 pledged in prize money and an entire grassroots system put in place, ESL seeks to reform the once epic RTS title that defined European esports. ESL will take the mantle of fully re-developing the competitive ecosystem in WC3. Warcraft 3 is getting an esports rebirth almost two decades after the title launched. We are not yet sure what this would mean for Starcraft 2 at Blizzcon after IEM Katowice takes the mantle of crowning the world champion. The IEM Katowice World Championship 2021 will be the final event of the season and crown the SC2 world champion. The DH Masters will host four events, while ESL will have the honor of hosting two Starcraft events and weekly competitions. Starting in 2020, Starcraft II will crown its global champion through the new system.

The new circuit is envisioned as the successor of the WCS competition which crowned its last champion Park “Dark” Ryung Woo this past Blizzcon. The begging of the ESL Pro Tour SC2 & DreamHack SC2 Masters marks the end of the the World Championship Series (WCS).

Warcraft 3 vs starcraft 2