Blizzard will relaunch Overwatch World Cup in 2023. The event was put on pause at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and missed for three years. The surprise announcement came out on Twitter, provided by a blog post on the official site.
It will be the first World Cup based on Overwatch 2. It will feature 36 national teams, which will be announced in January 2023. The qualifying part of the tournament will have new World Cup Trials, an open regional competition in February to earn a spot for the winning players. The regular tryouts will be held in March.
The World Cup qualifiers will take part in June. The best 16 teams will proceed to the LAN event, which will be held in Autumn.
Traditionally, World Cup has been held at Blizzcon. The festival shared a similar fate during the pandemic, except in 2021 when it was staged online. There's no mention of Blizzcon's return in 2023, but the dates of the World Cup fit its usual timeline, early November.