Kim Phan, the senior esports manager at Blizzard, joined the casters during the live Heroes of the Storm broadcast to share some of Blizzards esports plans for next year.
It is hard to imagine, but 2015 was the pilot year for Heroes of the Storm. The game only launched in June, and we have already gotten a lot of many happy memories from this year’s tournaments as well as the (Road to) Heroes World Championship.
But 2016 will be very different. Blizzard is planning a lot of things that will hopefully make Heroes of the Storm a true competitor in the MOBA scene:
- There will be a global esports program, currently referred to as The Global Championship Circuit.
- The Circuit will consist of three yearly events: the Spring Championship, Summer Championship and Fall Championship.
- These events will provide a global competitive stage, similar to the BlizzCon event this year.
- Each Global Championship will be a competition between 12 teams from all over the world.
- Americas, Europe, China and Korea will each get 2 teams.
- Taiwan, Latin America, SEA and ANZ will each get 1 team.
- These Championships will also bring programs to help all regions grow their ecosystems so that the scene will be able to grow.
- Each region will run their own style of qualifiers for the Global Championships, allowing third party organizers to help shape the scene.
A big problem that was mentioned, is the difficulty that good players experience in getting introduced into the esports scene. So Blizzard will be focusing on making sure that players will be easily discovered, and more teams will get set up.
The first Global Championship will be starting its preparations in January already, and will reward a total of $500,000 USD in prize money. So if you have been hesitating about starting a team, take this opportunity and start getting ready for the future of Heroes eSports!
More information on Blizzard's plans can be found here.
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