Tournament organizer ESL FACEIT Group (ESG) announced Thursday its plans for StarCraft II during the 2023-2024 season of the ESL Pro Tour. The StarCraft II competitive season of the ESL Pro Tour will include weekly ESL Open Cups, two online ESL StarCraft II Masters Regionals with live Finals, and end with the EPT Championship (details of which will be announced later this year). ESG also revealed that live ESL StarCraft II Masters Finals will take place at two major DreamHack events—DreamHack Summer 2023 and DreamHack Atlanta 2023—and that “DreamHack StarCraft II Masters” will be rebranded to the “ESL StarCraft II Masters.”
Those newly reformatted regions will consist of Americas—which includes Latin America and North America regions, Asia—which includes China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, Oceania, and rest of Asia, Europe—which includes all of Europe, and Korea—which will continue to be operated by partner GSL.
During the ESL StarCraft II Masters, competitors can participate in four online regional leagues (May 2 – 21) to qualify for a spot in the live Finals at DreamHack Summer in Jönköping, Sweden, from June 16-18, which will feature a $200K USD total prize pool.
The next leg of the circuit will be ESL StarCraft II Masters Winter, with online regionals taking place Oct. 31 – Nov. 19, with a Final taking place at DreamHack Atlanta in Atlanta, Georgia, Dec. 15-17, and a total prize pool of $200K.
EFG did not disclose the total prize pool or planned location of the EPT Championship, which will likely take place at the beginning of 2204. Sponsors, partners, and other details will be announced at a later date.
Finally, EFG points out that for the first time since it partnered with Blizzard four years ago to manage Starcraft II esports, it will be fully funding the ESL Pro Tour program, including prize money, “while continuing to operate the EPT.”