Facebook now the official broadcast home for Heroes of the Dorm
One of the more high-profile televised esports tournaments is packing up its stuff and moving to Facebook.
The spring 2017 Heroes of the Dorm collegiate tournament for Blizzard Entertainment's Heroes of the Storm will appear exclusively on the social network after two consecutive years of ESPN2 broadcasts. The full season and its national championship will be watchable on Facebook Live.
Heroes of the Storm is an arena battle game not unlike League of Legends, but starring characters from Blizzard's games catalog. The upcoming tournament sees college teams from the U.S. and Canada competing for a piece of a $500,000 prize pool of scholarships and other prizes.
For Blizzard, the move from ESPN2 to Facebook carries the promise of increased visibility. It's the difference between a paid cable service and a free-for-all social network, with the added benefit of interactive features like live chat and easy access to stats on the game's website.
The regular season's group stages kick off on Feb. 15, with the regional finals set for March 8 and 9. The Heroic Four and championship finals matches conclude the season on April 8.
Eligible teams can sign up on the tournament's official website starting Jan. 26.
Topics Blizzard Entertainment Esports Gaming
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
