OWCS Summary Guide

OWCS consists of 4 stages with an international Major at the end of Stage 2 and Stage 4.

An article regarding specifics on how to link your Blizzard account can be found here, and all other Overwatch 2 articles, such as how to play matches on the platform and signing up for tournaments can be found here

OWCS Stage 1: Format

• Registration
  • Starts January 30, 2024 and ends Monday, February 29 2024
  • Head here to register for the Stage 1 Open Qualifier
  • To participate in the tournament, all members must create an account with FACEIT.

• Competition
  • Takes place from March 1-24, 2024
  • Watch live on Overwatch Esports Channels

• Format
  • Open registration, up to 512 Teams
  • Four Weeks of play
  • Three-phase tournament
    • Phase 1: Open Qualifier - 512 teams, 97 rounds of Swiss Play
    • Phase 2: Open Qualifier - 16 teams, GSL Group Play
    • Phase 3: Main Event - 8 team, Double-Elimination bracket
• Prizing
  • Circuit Points for 1st-16th place
  • $75,000 USD per Region

Detailed summary of the dates for the OWCS 2024 circuit:

OWCS NA/EMEA Stage 1

• Roster Lock: 
• Week 1 (Qualifier - Swiss): March 1-3
• Week 2 (Qualifier - Groups): March 8-10 
• Week 3 (Qualifier - Groups): March 16-17
• Week 4 (Main Event): March 21-24

• OWCS NA/EMEA Stage 2
  • Roster Lock:
  • Week 1 (Qualifier - Swiss): April 5-7
  • Week 2 (Qualifier - Groups): April 12-14
  • Week 3 (Qualifier - Groups): April 20-21
  • Week 4 (Main Event): April 25-28
• OWCS Major
  • Roster Lock:
  • May 31 - June 2
• OWCS NA/EMEA Stage 3
  • Roster Lock:
  • Week 1 (Qualifier - Swiss): August 16-18
  • Week 2 (Qualifier - Groups): August 23-25
  • Week 3 (Qualifier - Groups): August 31-September 1
  • Week 4 (Main Event): September 5-8
• OWCS NA/EMEA Stage 4
  • Roster Lock:
  • Week 1 (Qualifier - Swiss): September 20-22
  • Week 2 (Qualifier - Groups): September 27-29
  • Week 3 (Qualifier - Groups): October 5-6
  • Week 4 (Main Event): October 10-13
• OWCS Finals
  • Roster Lock: 
  • November 22-24

Circuit Points and Prizing

Circuit Points will be a vital feature of OWCS in the NA and EMEA regions. They will be used to determine which teams advance into our international LAN events to represent the North America and EMEA regions. But how exactly does the Circuit Points system work, and how does that correlate with prizing for Stages? Let’s take a deeper look.

Prizing - Each OWCS Stage will have $75,000 USD up for grabs in NA & EMEA, with International events featuring a crowdfunding model similar to the 2023 Overwatch World Cup. We’ll share more details about crowdfunding as we get closer to Dallas.

Circuit Points - The top 16 teams from each OWCS Stage Open Qualifier will earn Circuit Points and prizing based on their performance in Groups and Main Event phases.The higher you place, the more points and prizing you earn - and the further into the season we get, the more valuable your circuit points become for strong performances.

A more detailed overview of the Circuit points and Prizing can be found in Activision Blizzard's blog post.

There are two ways to qualify for a place at a DreamHack Major under the Circuit Points system: Qualify via points, or win select stages. At the end of the Stage 2 Main Event, the tournament winners in NA & EMEA alongside the top two remaining teams by points in NA & EMEA will earn a spot at the OWCS Major in DreamHack Dallas. At the conclusion of the Stage 4 Main Event, this same process will determine our DreamHack Stockholm attendees, with Stage 1, 2, 3 & 4 results factoring into a team’s qualification.

OWCS Regions:

OWCS competition will be divided across three major regions: North America (NA), Europe, Middle East, & North Africa (EMEA), and Asia. 

Each region has a list of jurisdictions considered eligible to play for that region. If you’re a legal resident of one of those jurisdictions, you are considered eligible to play in that region as a resident player. If you’re not from one of that region’s jurisdictions, you can still play in that region as a non-resident player. 

When constructing your team to participate in OWCS, please note that there are a few limitations when constructing your roster:

• Rosters may have a maximum of 8 players
• All players must be at least 17 years of age
• Rosters may have a maximum of 2 non-resident players across OWCS regions
• All players on a given roster must have an account in good standing on FACEIT , Overwatch 2, & Blizzard Entertainment

For more specifics on eligibility rules, feel free to consult the official OWCS rulebook.

Full info and announcements can be found in the FACEIT blog post as well as the Competitive Details blogspot.