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Blizzard Entertainment and Facebook Team up for the Return of Heroes of the Dorm™

Signups are now live for Blizzard Entertainment’s trailblazing college esports tournament, this year featuring broader access to live matches and new ways to participate

IRVINE, Calif. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — January 25, 2017 — College esports reaches a new level of engagement with Heroes of the Dorm™ 2017 as Blizzard Entertainment and Facebook team up to stream the action exclusively via Facebook Live. Blizzard and Tespa’s preeminent collegiate esports tournament once again offers Heroes of the Storm® teams from colleges across the United States and Canada a chance to earn free tuition for the remainder of their college careers—more than $500,000 in scholarships and prizes will be handed out this spring. For the first time ever, Heroes of the Dorm will be broadcast via Facebook Live on the Heroes of the Storm Esports Facebook page, beginning with the regular season and continuing all the way through the Heroic Four and National Championship.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170125005466/en/

With Facebook friends and Heroes of the Storm personalities just a click away, Heroes of the Dorm 2017 will be a new kind of connected esports event, offering a global real-time connected experience for viewers that supports live interaction (or smack-talking) during the heat of competition. From the nervous anticipation of the first regular season matches to the bright lights and excitement of the championship, Facebook’s global network will enhance every shareable, likable, and otherwise epic moment in Heroes of the Dorm. To further amplify this year’s Heroes of the Dorm viewing experience, Blizzard will serve up-to-date statistics, team and player profiles, updates for the Bracket Challenge and a new Pick ‘em Challenge, and more will all be available on www.heroesofthedorm.com.

“Heroes of the Dorm has featured some of the most dramatic college esports action of the past two years, and with more prizes for more teams up for grabs this year, we’re looking forward to a whole new level of competition,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We’re also excited to be working with Facebook this year to bring more live Heroes of the Dorm play to more viewers around the world than ever before.”

Starting today, eligible college gamers in the United States and Canada can sign up to compete in Heroes of the Dorm at www.heroesofthedorm.com. The group stages of the regular season kick off February 15, with the full schedule proceeding as follows:

            Tournament Stage         Date
Group Stages February 15–16, 22–23, March 1–2
Regional Playoffs March 4–5
Regional Finals March 8–9
Round of 64 March 18–21
Round of 32 March 22–23
Round of 16 March 25
Round of 8 March 26
Heroic Four April 8
National Championship April 8

Everyone Can Play, Anyone Can Win

While Heroes of the Dorm competition is reserved for some of the most elite Heroes of the Storm college teams in North America, savvy fans around the world will be able to flex their expertise in the Heroes of the Dorm Bracket Challenge and the Heroes of the Dorm Pick ‘em Challenge. Accurately picking the winners of each matchup, beginning with the Round of 64, will win prizes for the top 500 entries in the Bracket Challenge, while the grand prize winner will receive USD $10,000. Midway through the tournament, fans get a second chance in the Pick ‘em Challenge, where they’ll pick just one team to hopefully carry them all the way to the National Championship—earning a Heroes of the Storm Stimpack just for participating, with a chance for more Stimpacks the better their team does.

In 2015, UC Berkeley dominated, becoming the first-ever Heroes of the Dorm. In 2016, Arizona State University avenged their championship loss from the previous year to claim the title. This year, a new story will be written and new heroes will be celebrated in the ultimate college esports event!

Fans can relive the gripping journey of last year’s Heroes of the Dorm Championship team in A New Hero: The Rise of College Esports, a documentary on Arizona State’s climb to the top of college esports.

Learn more about Heroes of the Dorm and the viewer-participation challenges, and stay tuned for further details, at www.heroesofthedorm.com.

About Heroes of the Storm

Heroes of the Storm brings together a diverse cast of iconic characters from Blizzard’s far-flung realms of science fiction and fantasy, including the Warcraft®, StarCraft®, and Diablo® universes, and challenges them to compete in epic, adrenaline-charged battles. To learn more about Heroes of the Storm, head over to the official website at  www.heroesofthestorm.com.

About Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.

Best known for blockbuster hits including World of Warcraft®, Hearthstone®, Overwatch®, the Warcraft®, StarCraft®, and Diablo® franchises, and the multi-franchise Heroes of the Storm®, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. ( www.blizzard.com), a division of Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI), is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment software renowned for creating some of the industry’s most critically acclaimed games. Blizzard Entertainment’s track record includes twenty-one #1 games* and multiple Game of the Year awards. The company’s online-gaming service, Battle.net®, is one of the largest in the world, with millions of active players.

*Based on internal company records and reports from key distribution partners.

About Tespa

Tespa is the premier college gaming network in North America, dedicated to creating a home for gamers on every campus. Recognized as the leader in college esports, Tespa cultivates student communities that host epic gaming events on campuses in the United States and Canada, and plans to distribute more than $800,000 in scholarship prizing in 2017 through intercollegiate leagues. Tespa has had more than 5000 teams from more than 1200 universities compete in its college tournaments and has empowered student leaders to become entrepreneurs in the gaming industry.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements: Information in this press release that involves Blizzard Entertainment's expectations, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future, including statements about the dates, features and expected events of Heroes of the Dorm 2017, including the Heroes of the Dorm Bracket Challenge and the Heroes of the Dorm Pick ‘em Challenge, and the related Facebook viewing experience, are forward-looking statements that are not facts and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause Blizzard Entertainment's actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements set forth in this release include unanticipated product delays and other factors identified in the risk factors sections of Activision Blizzard’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K and any subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. The forward-looking statements in this release are based upon information available to Blizzard Entertainment and Activision Blizzard as of the date of this release, and neither Blizzard Entertainment nor Activision Blizzard assumes any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements believed to be true when made may ultimately prove to be incorrect. These statements are not guarantees of the future performance of Blizzard Entertainment or Activision Blizzard and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond its control and may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations.


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