B/R Weekly Rushdown: New Street Fighter V Characters, BlizzCon Fallout
It was a hectic week in esports, given all the news coming out of BlizzCon and all the major tournaments that happened therein. Things didn't end there, though.
Here's your weekly rushdown of esports news.
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BlizzCon Esports Announcements
Rumors were swirling ahead of BlizzCon about major content updates to Blizzard's esports lineup. Some proved true, some didn't. Here's a quick rundown (h/t Business Wire):
- A new character, Sombra, was confirmed for Overwatch. She has an interesting blend of skills that include invisibility, disabling opponents' skills and teleportation. She is not yet released.
- StarCraft HD, unfortunately, was not acknowledged in any way. Given the fact that iNews24's report (via Kotaku) specifically pegged the announcement to come in September, it's hard not to wonder at this point if the game may have been shelved, or if it was simply incorrect.
- A new Hearthstone expansion, Mean Streets of Gadgetzan, was announced, built around the titular fantasy-meets-1950s Chicago city. It will also add 132 new cards.
In addition to this, new content was announced for other Blizzard titles including Diablo III (a new necromancer hero and a major update to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the original Diablo) and StarCraft II (a new co-op mission).
BlizzCon Tournament Results
BlizzCon wasn't just about announcing new content for released titles, though. Tournaments for major Blizzard titles were a major part of the festivities. The results are as follows:
| Overwatch | Hearthstone | StarCraft II | HotS | WoW |
| No. 1- South Korea | No. 1- Pavel | No. 1- ByuN | No. 1- Ballistix | No. 1- Splyce |
| No. 2- Russia | No. 2- DrHippi | No. 2- Dark | No. 2- Fnatic | No. 2- Method (NA) |
| No. 3- Sweden | No. 3T- Jasonzhou | No. 3T- Elazer | No. 3T- MVP Black | No. 3T- Tempo Storm |
| No. 4- Finland | No. 3T- che0nsu | No. 3T- Stats | No. 3T- Team Dignitas | No. 3T- NG Blue |
On the whole, it was a fun few nights, with the exception of the nearly depressing Heroes of the Storm tournament. StarCraft II was the most exciting, as the entire tournament was a competitive affair, and Overwatch saw the most surprising result, with Team South Korea dominating the field.
New Character(s) En Route for Street Fighter V
The Street Fighter V roster continues to grow. With Juri and Urien still being sorted into the game's meta, a new challenger but familiar face has arrived. That face, as can be seen above, has glowing eyes, a snarling mouth, a furrowed brow and belongs to none other than Street Fighter II's Akuma!
The trailer indicates he will be playable at the PlayStation Experience on Dec. 3-4 in Anaheim, California. An official date for the public, however, has not yet been revealed.
He might not be alone, though. Series producer Yoshinori Ono teased on Twitter that there may be a little bit extra coming fans' way:
What is it? That's anyone's guess, but another new character is a real possibility (Street Fighter IV's Abel and Street Fighter III's Sean both appear in Street Fighter V's story mode), as is a Super Street Fighter V release. Hopefully, answers will come at the Capcom Cup.
WESA Launches Arbitration Court
The World Esports Association is looking to increase its reach, and with esports being a constant source of drama, it's looking to do so through conflict resolution. Last Wednesday, the WESA put out a release to announce an "arbitration court" to help settle financial disputes between teams, tournaments and players:
"As a more efficient alternative to lengthy and costly litigation, the Arbitration Court offers a legal framework that can be used to resolve a range of issues, including contract disputes, prize money pay out and distribution, financial misconduct and Player representation. The issues will be decided by an impartial panel of three Arbitrators, although the parties can also agree to utilize a single arbitrator (sole Arbitrator) for certain disputes. The decisions at the end of the confidential proceedings are final and there are no appeals.
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Whether or not this will gain legs is tough to tell at this time. The WESA, an association made up of eight major esports organizations, is still in its infancy. But it has a fair bit of potential due to the prominence of its founders, which include teams like Natus Vincere, Fnatic and G2 Esports.
An arbitration court is another layer to an already ambitious undertaking, and while it's unclear what the future holds for the WESA, it is clearly digging in its heels to stay around for the long term.
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