Update: The Puppy Rumble is over but you can watch all the action in the VOD below, and find out more about the competitors (and maybe even adopt one) at puppyrumble.com.
Original story:
The Overwatch Year of the Dog event got underway earlier this month, but later today Blizzard will take the action to the next level with the first-ever Puppy Rumble, a no-holds-barred competition featuring real, and really small, dogs.
In Overwatch, every dog has its day.2.19.18 pic.twitter.com/5oWvxuFB7rFebruary 17, 2018
It's not clear how this is going to work, although I'm assuming that there will be no actual dog-fighting involved. It's also unlikely that the puppers involved will pick up controllers for a head-to-head go at each other. Probably we'll see something more suited to their unique skillsets, like running obstacles courses or chewing on things they shouldn't. Or maybe they'll just bumble around in a goofy mess of doogers for awhile, because let's be honest, Blizzard could do nothing but let this squad run loose on stage for an hour and we'd all tune in to watch.
Whatever the Puppy Rumble turns out to be, I expect it will be amazing, and it sounds like there will be some good things happening for the Overdoggos, too. "Our goal is to celebrate the Year of the Dog by making the world a better place for dogs," Blizzard said.
(Update: Blizzard says that the inaugural Puppy Rumble will feature a "friendly capture-the-flag faceoff," and that all the dogs featured in the event are adoptable through Petfinder, one of the program's partners, or their local adoption agencies. Other partners include Wags & Walks, Paws Atlanta, and Austin Pets Alive.)
The Overwatch Puppy Rumble begins at 3 pm PT/6 pm ET today, and will be livestreamed on Twitch. For a better idea of what's in store, have a look at some stills from the event below.