Chinese gamers enter quarter-finals at Overwatch World Cup 2017

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A Chinese team has beaten Thailand by three games to nil to successfully reach the quarter-finals of this year's Overwatch World Cup — a global, community-driven competition based on the popular PC online game developed by Blizzard Entertainment.

32 countries and regions have participated in the tournament, in which they were divided into eight groups of four teams.

China was ranked first in Group A after beating teams from Romania, Norway and Hong Kong.

The top two teams from each group then play in the first knockout round, with China, Norway, France and Thailand progressing from groups A and B. China defeated Thailand 3-0, and France defeated Norway 3-0.

Groups A&B /Blizzard Photo

Groups C&D /Blizzard Photo

Groups E&F /Blizzard Photo

Groups G&H /Blizzard Photo

China and France will join the other 6 playoff winners in a quarter-final round set to take place at BlizzCon 2017 in the United States.

BlizzCon is an annual video game convention organized by Blizzard to promote its major franchises, which include Overwatch. The event will be held in Anaheim, California, from November 3 to 4, just like previous years.

All the matches within and between teams from groups A and B were held at YUN SPACE in Shanghai from July 14 to 16.

Groups C and D face off in Australia from July 21 to 23; Groups E and F will do battle in Poland from August 4 to 6, and lastly, groups G and H will face each other in the US from August 11 to 13.

The four cities in which the groups matches take place. /Blizzard Photo

Besides China, this year's World Cup has attracted other major gaming teams to join in, such as France, the UK, Australia, Canada, Russia and Japan.

The teams are made up of players voted for by Overwatch fans, and the strongest players make it to the tournament. Competition is fierce, with only the top 32 teams with the highest skill ratings eligible to join, qualifying by winning Competitive Play games.

Top ten countries ranked by skill ratings. /Blizzard Photo

Overwatch is a team-based online first-person shooter video game which was released in May 2016 for Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It is one of Blizzard's major franchises, alongside series like Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo.

Overwatch /Blizzard Photo

The game has received universal acclaim from critics, and was considered one of the best games in 2016, for its accessibility, diverse appeal of heroic characters, vivid cartoonish art style and enjoyable gameplay.