Overwatch 2 developer Blizzard Entertainment and ESL FACEIT Group announced Wednesday that the Overwatch Championship Series (OWCS) will bring the OWCS World Finals to the inaugural DreamHack Stockholm on Nov. 22-24, at Stockholmsmässan in Stockholm, Sweden. This stop in Sweden marks the first major in-person European tournament for Overwatch since 2018, when Paris hosted Overwatch World Cup qualifiers (from the the now-defunct Overwatch League).
Eight of the top Overwatch 2 teams are scheduled to face off in Stockholm, with one to be crowned the very first OWCS Champions. Stage 4 of OWCS open qualifiers on FACEIT begin in EMEA and in North America on Sept. 20, with the winner of the tournament automatically qualifying for the OWCS World Finals.
Attendees of DreamHack Stockholm will be able to take part in on-site activations and other activities. In addition, premium access to the OWCS World Finals is also available through add-on ticket packages (find out more about that here—tickets go on sale Thursday).
EFG noted in its release that the OWCS Major at DreamHack Dallas drew more than 130K peak viewers and a festival crowd of more than 55,000 attendees.
EFG took over Overwatch Esports at the beginning of 2024, following a vote at the end of 2023 by teams in the Overwatch League to exit the franchised league and take a lump-sum payout.