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Blizzard quadruples next year’s Hearthstone World Championship prize pool to $1 million
It is no secret that more and more money is becoming involved in the esports industry every year, and 2016 looks like it will be no different, as Blizzard Entertainment Inc has announced that it will be quadrupling the prize money for its Hearthstone Championship Tour, bringing the total prize pool up to $1 million.
Blizzard said that it will be making several major changes to the upcoming tournament season based on feedback from fans. This includes increasing the number of local Hearthstone champions by holding four tournaments per region, with three Season Championships and a final Last Call Invitational for each region.
There will also be several changes aimed at creating a more balanced playing field, and Blizzard said that it will eliminate instant byes (where some players immediately advance without having to play) by starting all players in the same round, regardless of whether or not they received an invitation to participate. The tournament’s point system is getting overhauled as well, with higher ranking players receiving fewer points and lower ranking players receiving more points than previously.
Blizzard said that “points matter more than ever” in next year’s championship tour. “With the points decaying after each Championship Season, and the Last Call Invitational qualification relying on total accumulated points, collecting points will give you more opportunities to join the competition at any time.”
The format of individual tournaments will also be changing, with a much greater variety in eligible game types.
“We will take the opportunity with this year’s new structure to iterate and improve on the match format from each Championship Season to the next,” Blizzard explained, “and encourage other event organizers to be creative with their match and tournament formats as long as they encourage fair competition.”
Blizzard’s current list of eligible tournament formats include:
- Last Hero Standing
- Conquest
- 4 Hero 1 Ban Conquest
- Blind-Pick Best-of-5
Professional Hearthstone players are already earning points toward their rankings at this week’s DreamHack Winter 2015, which is currently taking place in Sweden and runs through Sunday.
Screenshot by Eric David | SiliconANGLE
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