The first 'Esports World Cup', the world's largest e-sports festival with a total prize pool of over 9 billion yen, will finally be held in Saudi Arabia



The Esports World Cup, the largest-ever global e-sports tournament, will be held in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, from July 4 to August 25, 2024. 22 tournaments will be held for 21 different titles, with the total prize money exceeding 60 million dollars (approximately 9.6 billion yen), the largest in the market for an e-sports event.

Esports World Cup

https://esportsworldcup.com/en

The Saudi Arabian government has announced that it will hold the Esports World Cup in October 2023 as a successor to the 'Gamers8' event held by the Saudi Arabian Esports Federation. The competition titles and dates of the Esports World Cup are as follows:
title Match date (local time)
Apex Legends July 31st - August 4th
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 August 15-18
Call of Duty: Warzone July 3-6
Counter-Strike 2 July 17-21
Dota 2 July 4th-7th, July 10th-14th, July 16th-21st
EA SPORTS FC 24 August 15-18
Fortnite August 8-11
Garena Free Fire July 10-14
Honor of Kings July 29th - August 4th
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (Boys) July 3rd-7th, July 10th-14th
(Women) July 24th to 28th
League of Legends July 4-7
Overwatch 2 July 24-28
PUBG: Battlegrounds July 21-25
Rainbow Six Siege July 31st - August 4th
RENNSPORT August 22-25
Rocket League August 22-25
StarCraft 2 August 14th to 18th
Street Fighter 6 August 8-11
Tekken 8 August 22-25
Teamfight Tactics August 8-11


Many Japanese players are participating in the Esports World Cup. In the Apex Legends division, teams such as FNATIC , RIDDLE , FENNEL , and NORTHEPTION will participate. In addition, more than 10 players, including Sho , Ryukichi , Tokido , Kawano , and Tachikawa , are scheduled to participate in the Street Fighter 6 division. In the Tekken 8 division, Chikurin , Nobi , and Keisuke have qualified to participate.



The prize money for the Esports World Cup will be the largest in the history of e-sports, totaling more than $60 million. Prize money will be paid to the top 16 teams or players, and if they win, they will receive $7 million (approximately 1.125 billion yen). In addition, the MVP of each event will receive $50,000 (approximately 8 million yen).

The Esports World Cup was planned as part of the Saudi Vision 2030 , a government development program launched by Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman, with the goal of moving the country away from dependence on oil and diversifying its economy under Crown Prince Salman's leadership.



Crown Prince Salman has already attracted around 250 game companies to Saudi Arabia in order to make gaming a major industry there. He also made headlines by owning more than 96% of the shares of SNK, the developer of games such as 'Garou' and 'King of Fighters.'

It turns out that the Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Foundation owns more than 96% of SNK's shares, which developed 'Garou Densetsu' and 'Ryuuko no Ken' - GIGAZINE



The Esports World Cup Foundation, the governing body of the Esports World Cup, has received funding from the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund and has signed a five-year contract to support the e-sports district initiative of the entertainment city of Qiddiya , planned for construction in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. An indoor arena with a capacity of 20,000 people that can host e-sports events has already been built in Qiddiya.

On the other hand, Bloomberg, an economic newspaper, points out that there are critical opinions about Saudi Arabia taking a central role in e-sports, citing the persecution of LGBTQ and women's rights in the country. The Saudi Arabian side seems to be accepting such criticism, and the e-sports team Team Liquid revealed that they consulted with the management about wearing rainbow flag jerseys to show support for LGBTQ, and received permission from the Saudi Arabian authorities to wear them.

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in Game, Posted by log1i_yk