World of Warcraft esports gets $590,000 total prize pool for 2017
Blizzard has announced details for the World of Warcraft Arena World Championship 2017. This year’s global prize pool totals $590,000, the biggest ever for the competitive World of Warcraft event.
The 2017 format has more qualifier cups, with five qualifiers in both the North American and European regions. Each qualifier will have a $6,000 prize pool, and participants no longer need to have an Arena rating to enter, meaning that sign-ups are open to all. Teams can sign up to compete in as many cups within their region as they want. Matches between the top eight teams in each qualifier will be featured on the live stream.
Online Arena Cups will award points to the top teams, and the teams with the most points qualify to compete at their regional event. With Blizzard’s approval, there will also be community-run events that award points.
The North American and European regions will each have 12 teams qualify, up from eight last year. All the Regional Championship events will be LAN-based and require competing teams to attend. Each of the Regionals will have $100,000 prize pools.
The World of Warcraft Arena World Championship will have a prize pool of $280,000. Latin America now has its own spot in the finals, and China now has two spots. The following table breaks down how points will be awarded.
Blizzard will be announcing more details in the coming weeks.
