Blizzard is trying the next step in Starcraft 2 esports by hosting a worldwide full World Championship Series with Korea, Europe and America as regions as well as three seasons before the BlizzCon World Final.

Blizzard had invited guests to an unnamed event earlier today in South Korea. The rumors are now confirmed, Blizzard is going a similar way with Starcraft 2 as Riot went with League of Legends: A whole year-long World Championship Series.

The time table: The WCS starts very soon with the regional first seasons and ends with the World Finals at BlizzCon November 8-9 in Anaheim. In between there will be three seasons for each region and a worldwide final event after each season.

The regions: Korea, Europe and America are the three regions for the Blizzard Starcraft 2 WCS. Players have to decide on their region and will afterwards be locked into them for the year. However, players are not pre-determined on their regions by nationality. That means i.e. Korean players are allowed to switch over to the American or European competition.



The organisations: While GSL and OGN will take care of the three Korean seasons, ESL will operate the European part and MLG will be Blizzard's partner in America. In Korea, GSL will run the "spring" and the "autumn" season, OGN the "summer" season in between.

The format: In general, the GSL tournament system will be used for all regional seasons. In Europe and America, adjustments might be applied by the regional partners. The Korean seasons will be hold in GSL's and OGN's studios, while the American and European seasons will played online. The top 5 from each region and one extra player from the holding region will play in the 16 player cross-league season finals after each season, even after the last one.

The competing non-WCS tournaments: Players are still allowed to play in other tournaments. Some non-WCS tournaments might even be awarded with points which are necessary to collect to play in the WCS World Final in November. More information about the point distribution will be given at a later point.

The streaming: Blizzard said to be streaming the leagues on Twitch in 720p for free. If 1080p and VoDs will be pay-to-watch has not been announced yet.