It’s that time of year again! No, I’m not exactly talking about the holiday season, but more so the “2016 tournament circuit and events”, announcements time of year.
The big boss, Activision Blizzard, has recently come out and have announced details regarding the upcoming 2016 World Championship Series for StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void. The 2016 WCS is bringing more changes and improvements than the circuit has ever done at once before. Ultimately, these changes and switches are here as a push to help overall improve on the Circuit and help build things up once again.
Many competitive StarCraft 2 fans and players alike have been quite frustrated with the old format and construct of the WCS, and the overall Circuit has seen a bit of a decline in terms of interest throughout the few years it has been on-going. However, with these new changes, Blizzard hopes to breathe new life back into the WCS, and what a perfect time to do so with Legacy of the Void being as a “fresh start” of sorts to the tournament series.
For starters, Blizzard is looking to bring the heat in terms of competition in various other regions and scenes around the globe! the company will be inviting players of all sorts to attend various events throughout the year, ultimately spicing up the competition a bit.
Blizzard is currently planning three WCS championship events along with up to eight sponsored, WCS Circuit events, which will be hosted and supported by ESL, DreamHack, and various other eSports entities/partners who apply. The new format has been revealed as the “WCS Circuit Standings” and is being advertised as an evolution of the “WCS Premier Series”. The WCS Circuit Standings will be open to all players based outside of Korea, giving foreigners a better opportunity to make it into the spotlight, it will also give foreigners an opportunity to compete in the GSL as well as the SSL over in Korea, which is something we see every now and then, but not very often.
Along with the new tournament system next year also comes great increases to the base prize pool for the series! Blizzard has announced they will be raising the base prize pool for the entire competition by more than $400,000 USD to over $2,000,000 in total for the 2016 season!!! This does not include the prize money that will be provided by partners and other organizers.
Overall, this new format will ensure the WCS see’s a more variety of players, more tournaments, and even bigger prize pools for events! This is definitely what the series needs, especially when you sit back and look at how the WCS has been doing when compared to other eSports circuits that have kicked off within the last 3-4 years or so.
It’s great to see Blizzard sitting back, and looking at what they have built and deciding way’s to improve upon it. StarCraft II eSports is beloved by many, and with Legacy of the Void now at the forefront, the company has an opportunity to once again, provide that SC2 eSports golden experience that we’ve all come to know and love.
You can checkout the official announcement as well as read up on all of the details regarding the WCS 2016 Circuit by visiting the WCS page located here.
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