| 2023 Overwatch World Cup | |
| Game: | Overwatch 2 |
| Administrator: | Blizzard Entertainment |
| Tournament Format: | Round-robin and Knockout |
| Venues: | Anaheim Convention Center Anaheim, California |
| Teams: | 16 |
| Runner-Up1: |  |
| Runner-Up2: |  |
| Previous: | 2019 |
| Next: | 2024 |
The 2023 Overwatch World Cup (OWWC) was the fifth edition of the Overwatch World Cup, an Overwatch esports tournament, organized by the game's developer Blizzard Entertainment. Over 40 teams from various countries and regions competed for one of the 16 spots in the 2023 OWWC. The group stage was a no audience LAN event and took place from October 29 to November 1. The knockout stage took place at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California, during BlizzCon from November 3 to 4, 2023. It was the first World Cup event since 2019 and the first of Overwatch 2.[1] [2]
The finals took place on November 4 between Saudi Arabia and China. Saudi Arabia won the match by a score of 3–2 to claim their first World Cup title.[3]
Each country has a National Competition Committee, consisting of a general manager, head coach, and social lead, who are responsible for organizing tryouts for their country. Blizzard chose committees via an application process, which began in February 2023. Throughout three weekends in February, every committee hosted an open format tournament, called World Cup Trials. The winning team of each World Cup Trial won and earned an automatic invitation to their country's team tryouts in March 2023. Committees finalized a seven-person roster by April 2023.[4] [5]
A total of 36 countries and regions were invited, based on Overwatch 2 player population data, to play in online qualifiers for the 2023 OWWC, with the teams evenly divided into six regions. An additional four teams also played in the online qualifiers via a "wild card challenge". Of the teams, a total of 15 advanced to the group stage of the OWWC. China received a direct invitation to the group stage due to "the current dynamics in China".[6]
| Anaheim, California, USA | |
|---|---|
| Anaheim Convention Center Arena | |
| Capacity 7,500[7] | |
The group stage ran from October 29 to November 1, 2023, and was a LAN event in Southern California without an audience. A total of 16 teams, determined from the online qualifiers, were divided into groups, and each group competed in a round-robin tournament. Of the 16 teams, eight advanced to the knockouts.[8]
The knockout stage took place from November 3–4, 2023, at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California, during BlizzCon.[9] The top eight teams from the group stage competed in a single-elimination tournament.
The 2023 World Cup prize pool was generated through crowdfunding via the sales of in-game cosmetics within Overwatch 2. A total of 25% of the revenue generated from Overwatch World Cup cosmetics and bundled packages contributed to the overall prize pool of the Overwatch World Cup. There was no preset limit or cap on these contributions, so the prize pool could grow until the end of the crowdfunding initiative, which took place on the final day of the Overwatch World Cup Finals.[10] On the first day of BlizzCon, Blizzard announced that the prize pool had reached at least .[11] A segment of the prize pool was allocated to the all competing teams in the tournament. The specific distribution percentages was determined based on each team's placement in the tournament. The top 16 teams that qualified for the LAN event were awarded 73% of the total prize pool, while the remaining 27% was equitably divided among the teams that participated in the Online Qualifiers and the Wild Card Challenge. The prize pool distribution is detailed below.
| Place | Team | Prize | Prize | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | >$125,000 | 25% | ||
| 2 | | >$50,000 | 10% | |
| 3 | | >$40,000 | 8% | |
| 4 | | >$30,000 | 6% | |
| 5–8 | | >$15,000 | 3% | |
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| 9–16 | | >$7,500 | 1.5% | |
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| 17–43 | – | >$5,000 | 1% |