Blizzard unveils esports plans for BlizzCon

As Blizzard puts dates on this year's BlizzCon, the company has also revealed its world championship plans for all its esports titles. As usual, the annual event hosts finals for all the games, and this year the company's raising its prize pools significantly across the board.

The Hearthstone world championship will feature 16 players, four each from the regions of Europe, China, Asia-Pacific and the Americas. The finals will use the new Standard format that's being introduced to the game with the upcoming launch of the Whispers of the Old Gods expansion, meaning players are restricted to cards from the afore-mentioned set, Blackrock Mountain, The Grand Tournament, and the League of Explorers. Contestants will be competing for a total prize pool of $1 million.

For Heroes of the Storm, the esports circuit is already set up for championships in Spring, Summer and Fall, and BlizzCon will host the latter of those. 12 teams in total will compete, again for a total prize pool of $1 million.

The StarCraft 2 WCS Global Finals will feature the eight best players in the world competing for a total of $500,000. Blizzard have made numerous changes to their WCS format for this year in an attempt to make the regions outside of Korea more competitive, but it's a safe bet that we'll see Korean domination at the finals once more.

And finally, BlizzCon will also host a $250,000 world championship in World of Warcraft Arena PvP.

Swing by the BlizzCon site for more details on each of the tournaments and their qualifiers.