Back in March, gaming titan Blizzard opened its first eSports arena — in Taipei. Sure, they probably chose Taiwan as a hub teams playing in Overwatch‘s far-ranging Pacific championship, but the question remained: Where was the arena on Blizzard’s home turf? At long last, the company has revealed it’s been building one in the backyard of its headquarters. On October 7th, the Blizzard Arena Los Angeles will open its doors for its first event: The Overwatch Contenders’ first season playoffs.
The Blizzard Arena is nestled in the Burbank Studios, which housed The Tonight Show for 40 years. There, an hour’s drive north of its HQ in Irvine, California, the studio will host matches and tournaments that will be broadcast worldwide. Just like its Taipei counterpart, Blizzard’s flagship arena will have a shop full of merchandise that will rotate its stock according to the current competition.
After the Overwatch playoffs break in the stage, the Burbank arena will host the summer tournament for Hearthstone‘s Championship Tour on October 13th, the third round of competition before the league’s grand finals in early 2018. The rest of the month will feature matches of other Blizzard titles Heroes of the Storm and World of Warcraft as players compete to qualify for those games’ championships at BlizzCon in early November.
Tickets for Overwatch Contenders Playoffs on October 7th and 8th go on sale here, while entry for the next weekend’s (October 13th to 15th) Hearthstone matches can be bought here.
