Blizzard Entertainment's 10th BlizzCon
celebration unveils new content for the company's blockbuster franchises
and marks the culmination of five esports championships
IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
With the dust now settled on one of the most exciting weekends in
gaming, a new crop of fantasy and real-world heroes has emerged. BlizzCon®
2016, Blizzard Entertainment's two-day community festival taking place
November 4-5 at the Anaheim Convention Center, celebrated the company's
25th anniversary and came to a close with a bevy of new
announcements for its iconic games—as well as global champions crowned
across Blizzard's stable of world-class esports.
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BlizzCon panels feature the latest news on Blizzard games for attendees. (Photo: Business Wire)
After months of intense competition leading up to the show, BlizzCon
hosted the world championships for each of Blizzard's global esports
programs, with a combined prize pool of $2,750,000 up for grabs. These
tournaments represent the pinnacle of competitive play in Blizzard's
games, and the company again congratulates the champions who battled
their way to victory:
StarCraft® II World Championship Series
Global Finals
Winner: ByuN
In the 2016 WCS Global Finals for StarCraft II, Byun followed up his
impressive Global StarCraft II League championship as a team-less free
agent with an unforgettable WCS Global Championship run. With the most
diverse cast of players in the tournament's history competing at this
year's finals, every match was a must-watch.
Hearthstone® World Championship
Winner: Pavel
For the first time in the history of the Hearthstone World Championship,
two players from Europe squared off against one another in the Grand
Finals at BlizzCon. In a tense series, Russia's Pavel defeated his
Ukrainian opponent DrHippi 4-2 to claim the title of 2016 Hearthstone
World Champion.
Heroes of the Storm® Fall Championship
Winning team: Ballistix Gaming
Ballistix Gaming from Korea took home the Fall Championship trophy after
a grueling final series with Sweden's Fnatic, who had just taken down
the favorites, MVP Black, in the semifinals. Incredibly, Ballistix
dropped only two battlegrounds over the course of the event.
World of Warcraft® Arena World Championship
Winning team: Splyce
In perhaps the most epic World of Warcraft Arena Grand Finals match to
ever take place on the BlizzCon stage, the defending champions, Splyce,
bested Method NA in a nerve-wrecking 7-game series, becoming the first
team ever to win back-to-back titles.
Overwatch® World Cup
Winning country: South Korea
With dominant performance after dominant performance, South Korea became
the first winners of the Overwatch World Cup in front of a packed
BlizzCon arena. Besting tournament heavyweights USA, Sweden, and Russia
en route to the final, South Korea didn't drop a single game.
Blizzard also used the occasion to reveal its plans for the Overwatch
League, a world-class sports ecosystem for professional Overwatch
competition that's launching in 2017. The Overwatch League
will bring together some of the best elements of esports and traditional
sports to create an experience that's accessible and sustainable for
players, teams, and fans.
Looking beyond esports, the company also detailed several major game
updates for players in packed developer panels across both days of the
show, including:
-
Mean
Streets of Gadgetzan™—a new Hearthstone expansion,
coming in early December, which will expose players to the darker side
of Azeroth's famous port town, with new game mechanics and 132 new
cards
-
"The Tomb of Sargeras"—the next major content update (patch 7.2)
coming to World of Warcraft, which will feature a new
raid zone and a new dungeon, introduce player-vs.-player Brawls, bring
flying to the Broken Isles, and more
-
"The Darkening of Tristram"—a special 20th anniversary
update for Diablo® III
that will recreate the experience of Blizzard's first Diablo
game when it's released in January
-
The Necromancer—a brand-new Diablo III hero, coming to
the game next year, who commands the dead on the battlefields of
Sanctuary
-
Varian and Ragnaros—two heroes who will bring new and vastly different
styles of play to the Nexus in Blizzard's fast-paced team brawler Heroes
of the Storm later this year
-
Blackheart's Revenge—a uniquely asymmetrical attack/defend
battleground, featuring everyone's favorite ghost pirate, coming to Heroes
of the Storm's chaotic Heroes Brawl mode
-
Alexei Stukov—a new (infested) co-op commander who will bring a blend
of Zerg and Terran might to bear in StarCraft II's
popular Co-op Missions
-
Sombra—a stealthy hacker who's joining the roster of Overwatch,
Blizzard's smash-hit shooter released earlier this year
For more information about all of the esports action and news shared at
BlizzCon 2016, visit www.blizzcon.com.
ABOUT BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT, INC.
Best known for blockbuster hits including World of Warcraft®,
Hearthstone®, Overwatch®, the
Warcraft®, StarCraft®, and Diablo® franchises,
and the multifranchise Heroes of the Storm®, Blizzard
Entertainment, Inc. (www.blizzard.com),
a division of Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI), is a premier developer
and publisher of entertainment software renowned for creating some of
the industry's most critically acclaimed games. Blizzard Entertainment's
track record includes twenty-one #1 games and multiple Game of the Year
awards. The company's online-gaming service, Battle.net®, is
one of the largest in the world, with millions of active players.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking
Statements:
Information in this press release that involves Blizzard Entertainment's
expectations, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future,
including statements about Hearthstone, Diablo III, World of
Warcraft, Overwatch, Heroes of the Storm, StarCraft II, and the Overwatch
League, including with respect to their content, components, start
date, or structure, are forward-looking statements that are not facts
and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Factors that could
cause Blizzard Entertainment's actual future results to differ
materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements set
forth in this release include unanticipated product delays and other
factors identified in the risk factors sections of Activision Blizzard's
most recent annual report on Form 10-K and any subsequent quarterly
reports on Form 10-Q. The forward-looking statements in this release are
based upon information available to Blizzard Entertainment and
Activision Blizzard as of the date of this release, and neither Blizzard
Entertainment nor Activision Blizzard assumes any obligation to update
any such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements believed
to be true when made may ultimately prove to be incorrect. These
statements are not guarantees of the future performance of Blizzard
Entertainment or Activision Blizzard and are subject to risks,
uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond its control
and may cause actual results to differ materially from current
expectations.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161105005019/en/
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
Rob Hilburger, 949-242-8404 dir
VP,
Global Communications
rhilburger@blizzard.com
or
Andrew
Reynolds, 949-955-1380 x14301
Public Relations Director
areynolds@blizzard.com
or
David
Gordon, 949-955-1380 x13506
Public Relations Manager
dgordon@blizzard.com
Source: Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
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