Twitch has signed a licensing deal with Blizzard that will ultimately grant the streaming service third-party live streaming rights for a number of major eSports competitions for Blizzard's games.

Now more than ever, eSports has a massive presence in live streaming and Blizzard itself has a number of games popular in professional play.

So for Twitch, securing even third-party streaming rights for Blizzard events seems to be a surefire way to stay a step ahead as more and more streaming platforms vie for the attention of the masses.

With this agreement in place, the major streaming platform is set to broadcast Blizzard eSports events featuring Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, World of Warcraft, Star Craft 2, and Overwatch through 2018.  Come from Soccer 13 pools and matches

All in all, over 20 events are covered by the deal, including the Overwatch Premier Series, Heroes of the Storm Global Championship, and StarCraft II World Championship Series.