Overwatch World Cup 2023: Teams, Schedule, Format, Drops, Skins, Livestream

The Overwatch World Cup 2023 is the biggest international competitive tournament for the title and its community is excited to finally witness the grand event return to LAN after four long years.

Blizzard had taken prompt action by announcing most details about the event in January 2023. The tournament has come a long way since with participating countries having conducted their World Cup Trials to finalize their respective teams and lineups.

After a long wait, the regional online qualifiers are also underway to determine the final 16 teams that will compete on LAN sometime around late October and early November.

Here is everything you need to know about the Overwatch World Cup 2023 including participating countries, teams, players, overall schedule, format, free drops, themed skins, and livestream details.

Overwatch World Cup 2023: Complete Details

This will be the fifth world cup overall and the first global championship for the title since having crowned a winner four years ago in 2019. To date, South Korea has won three consecutive world cups, whereas the United States won the last and is the current reigning champion.

Now the fight is on to see which country will be able to leave its mark as the first Overwatch 2 World Cup winner!

Overwatch World Cup 2023: Teams

There are a total of 36 countries that will be competing in the Overwatch World Cup 2023, 12 countries from each of the three regions, divided internally into two groups.

The three regions are Americas Conference (AMER), Europe and Middle East Conference (EMEC), and Asia-Pacific Conference (APAC).

Overwatch World Cup 2023: Schedule

The World Cup Trials took place in February 2023 over the course of three weekends.

• 10^th to 12^th February | 17^th to 19^th February | 24^th to 26^th February

This was followed by a month of additional tryouts in March and a team of seven players getting finalized in April.

Now, the regional online qualifiers will be played across all three regions to finalize the 15 teams making it to the LAN finals.

• Overwatch World Cup 2023 AMER Conference: 23^rd June to 2^nd July

• Overwatch World Cup 2023 EMEC Conference: 22^nd June to 2^nd July

• Overwatch World Cup 2023 APAC Conference: 23^rd June to 2^nd July

The qualifying teams will compete in the main Overwatch World Cup 2023 to crown the champion.

• Overwatch World Cup 2023: TBD (Late October to Early November)

Overwatch World Cup 2023: Format

Online Regional Qualifiers

• The ongoing online regional qualifiers is the first tournament where all the countries will take on each other to book a slot for themselves in the finals.

• Each group will follow its own single-round robin format with the top three teams from Group A and the top two teams from Group B qualifying for the Overwatch World Cup 2023.

World Cup

• The 16 qualified teams will be divided into two groups of eight teams each and both of them will follow a single round-robin format.

• The top four teams from each group would make their way ahead to the playoffs.

• Here a single-elimination format will be followed to crown the champion.

Overwatch World Cup 2023: Prizepool

For the first time in history, the total prize pool of the Overwatch 2 World Cup will be crowdfunded through multiple skins and other cosmetic items going on sale over the coming months.

25% of all sales will contribute to the overall prize pool and there will be no cap, so the prize money will continue to grow until the crowdfunding ends on last day of the Overwatch World Cup 2023.

Out of the total prize pool, 73% will be reserved for the 16 finalists while the remaining 27% will be equally distributed among the remaining teams that competed in the regional online qualifiers and the wild card challenge.

Overwatch World Cup 2023: Livestream

Both the regional online qualifiers and the final tournament will be broadcasted live across YouTube and Twitch on Play Overwatch and Overwatch Contenders in the English language.

• Play Overwatch: YouTube | Twitch

• Overwatch Contenders: YouTube | Twitch

Apart from this, there will be official watch parties hosted by popular streamers and content creators on their respective channels. Anyone is free to host one if they want, all they need to do is follow these two steps.

• Title: Overwatch World Cup 2023 Watch Party

• Hashtag: #OWWCstreamteam

Overwatch World Cup 2023: Drops

There are Twitch exclusive drops that Overwatch 2 players can grab by simply watching the online regional qualifiers between 18^th June and 2^nd July.

All they need to do is simply watch the live broadcast and earn Overwatch 2 World Cup celebratory cosmetics. Do keep in mind to link your Battle.net account to Twitch before tuning in to earn the in-game rewards.

• Watch 2 Hours: Earn the Overwatch 2 World Cup 2023 spray.

• Watch 2 Hours: Earn the Pachimari Victory player icon immediately, plus receive the Overwatch 2 World Cup 2023 player icon later on 14^th July.

• Watch 4 Hours: Earn the Winston World Cup home and away skins.

• Watch 4 Hours: Earn the Wrecking Ball World Cup home and away skins.

• Watch 4 Hours: Earn the Zenyatta World Cup home and away skins.

• Watch 4 Hours: Earn the Ramattra World Cup home and away skins.

Overwatch World Cup 2023: Skins and Cosmetics

There is a World Cup cosmetic bundle called Conference Bundle which is on sale from 20^th to 26^th June. It features new home and away skins for heores hailing from each of the three regions.

Closer to the main event two more cosmetic bundles will be released, Legendary Bundle and Supporter Bundle, including the Legendary Sojourn Skin which has been inspired by 'deep blue gods'.

This is everything you need to know about the Overwatch World Cup 2023 whose regional online qualifiers are currently ongoing and soon the finalists for the main event will be known.