Blizzard invites 'aspiring pros' to compete in Overwatch's Open Division

Overwatch's Open Division is where amateurs that dream of become pros go to compete. Thousands of teams take part, playing ten games across five weeks. The cream rises to the top, and the four best teams battle for a chance to play in Overwatch Contenders, a pro "development league" for the glitzy Overwatch League. If you fancy signing up for season three of the Open Division—and anyone can—then registrations are now live here.

The season will kick off on August 18, and finish on September 15. If more than 600 teams sign up to any given regional league—and 144 have already done so in North America—then Blizzard will schedule some extra matches before the playoffs kick off on September 29. The top four teams at the end of it all face off against the bottom four teams in Overwatch Contenders, and any that win will be pushed into the next Contenders season.

Yes, it's a long shot, and there's only $50 prize money on offer for the tournament. But making it into the Overwatch Contenders, a fully pro league, would be an absolute dream: just ask One.PoinT, who rose up from the Open Division last season, and are now playing in a tournament where the combined prize pool for all regions is $3.2 million.

Even if you don't dream of going pro, it's a good chance to play some structured, competitive matches with a group of friends you get on well with.

Thanks, RPS.

Samuel is a freelance journalist and editor who first wrote for PC Gamer nearly a decade ago. Since then he's had stints as a VR specialist, mouse reviewer, and previewer of promising indie games, and is now regularly writing about Fortnite. What he loves most is longer form, interview-led reporting, whether that's Ken Levine on the one phone call that saved his studio, Tim Schafer on a milkman joke that inspired Psychonauts' best level, or historians on what Anno 1800 gets wrong about colonialism. He's based in London.