Blizzard Entertainment announced its schedule for the Heroes of the Storm Global Championship (HGC) for the next season, along with the new applied system and changes.

The new season of HGC that will start on January 26, 2018 (PST) and includes 32 teams in total, from 8 different regions - China, South Korea, NA, EU, and others. This league is expected to be top-notch, featuring Fnatic who won the 2017 HGC Mid Season Brawl, MVP Black who won the Phase #1 Eastern Clash, Dignitas who won the Phase #1 Western Clash, and L5(Ballistix), the champion team of the year of 2016.

The next HGC will be held for 10 weeks each in Phase #1 and Phase #2, and will be done separately in two different types first - Eastern Clash with Korea and China, and Western Clash with EU and NA - with teams that were placed in the top tier within 5 weeks of the league. The Regular Season will be held after 5 weeks of the Clashes, and the top-tier teams in Phase #1 will participate in the Mid Season Brawl, and those in the Phase #2 will participate in the HGC Finals at BlizzCon in November.

Other teams who are not affiliated with the 4 major leagues will also compete separately. Teams from the SA, Australia and New Zealand regions will participate in the Western Wild Card, whereas those from the SEA and Taiwan regions will be in the Eastern Wild Card. The winners of the Wild Cards will also be qualified to enter the Mid Season Brawl and HGC Finals.

New rules for the Mid Season Brawl and HGC Finals of the next HGC will also be applied. Aside from the regional seed, winners from each league will be provided with one extra qualifying ticket.

The broadcasting for spectators will also change. All matches of the HGC 2018 will be broadcasted in full HD with 1080p/60fps. The Korean league is broadcasted in Korean and English on the official Blizzard channel, whereas NA and EU leagues are broadcasted in English and other languages on the official channel as well. More details about the league will be announced near the start of the season.

Meanwhile, all 32 participating teams of the HGC 2018 will decide their owners. The owner will be responsible for communicating with the HGC league office, managing the team roster, and other administrative work. These include jobs such as marketing the HGC membership and scheduling the league-related plans, which will eventually allow affiliated players to focus solely on gameplay. Each team’s sponsor and branding can be changed anytime until the start of the next season.