 | |
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Sport | Esports |
| Location | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |
| Dates | July 3–August 25 |
| Administrator | Esports World Cup Foundation Tournaments supervised by ESL |
Number of events | 23 in 22 esports |
| Purse | $62.5 million |
| Website | esportsworldcup |
The 2024 Esports World Cup (EWC) was the first edition of the Esports World Cup, an annual international esports tournament series run by the Esports World Cup Foundation, a nonprofit organization funded by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund. It took place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from July 3 to August 25, 2024 and was the world's largest esports event, featuring 23 events in 22 different video game titles.[1]
EWC had the largest combined prize pool in esports history at over US$60 million, encompassing individual tournament prize pools, rewards for teams that qualify to events, most valuable player awards, and the Club Championship, a cross-game competition that aggregates the individual game results of all participating organizations (known as "clubs" to the EWC) to crown a Club Champion. The Esports World Cup replaced the Saudi Esports Federation's Gamers8 esports festival, which was held in 2022 and 2023.
The Esports World Cup was criticized as being used as a sportswashing tool by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to distract the esports community from its numerous human rights violations; commentators drew attention to the country's stance on LGBTQ+ rights, women's rights, and its handling of dissent.