Competitive Overwatch is growing fast. In addition to Blizzard announcing the Overwatch League at this year’s BlizzCon, Next Generation Esports has announced their tournament, the Overwatch Winter Premiere.
The tournament will take place over multiple months and will be open to all teams in North America. Open qualifiers begin on December 10th and will last until December 13th. When only the top eight teams remain, they will fight for first place in a three week double round robin format, the finals of which will take place over two days in January 2017.
While this is a third party event, NGE will “work with Blizzard Entertainment to fully produce, direct, and broadcast the Overwatch Winter Premiere.” The tournament will be streamed from NGE studios in Burbank, CA.
In a press release, Andy Vander Woude, CEO and co-founder of NGE, says “NGE’s philosophy is to find the most ambitious esports partners and work with them to elevate their shows. That’s why we’re thrilled to work with Blizzard to create an esports experience perfectly matched to Overwatch fans.”
The total prize pool for the tournament is $100,000, but it has not been made clear exactly how this will be distributed based on each team’s placement at the end of the tournament.
Registration is required to qualify for the tournament. You can register online here.