Saudi Arabia, a country with an extremely hot weather during summer, is clearly scaping the already famous "esports winter" with its new emblem in the enteraintment industry: the Esports World Cup.
For years now, Saudi Arabia has been investing astronomical quantities to become the leaders in different tranditional sports, with football being the clear example. The landing of players like Cristiano Ronaldo or Neymar and the celebration of the 25th football world cup are some of the country's efforts to bring Saudi Arabia to the world.
However, their efforts go a step further as the region is also investing in the competitive side of the gaming industry. The creation of the Esports World Cup, formerly known as Gamers8, is another step to the region's goal of becoming the future of esports.
Today, the Esports World Cup unveiled that the championships celebrated in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, will gather a prize pool of over USD$60M.
"We are proud to announce an unprecedented total prize pool of more than $60 million for the inaugural Esports World Cup this summer in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This life-changing sum is the largest prize pool ever awarded in the history of esports, shattering the previous record of $45 million set by Gamers8 in 2023," the announcement says.
In February 2024, the Esports World Cup unveiled the EWC Program, a so-called "initiative designed to promote sustainable planning for all participating esports clubs, unite global fans of different esports titles under collective banners, and elevate the best athletes in the world under one consolidated competition." Such an initiative would accept 28 teams — 22 invited and 6 accepted after undergoing an "open application."
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