Apex Legends Joins the Esports World Cup

Apex Legends joins the Saudi-backed Esports World Cup in Riyadh this summer.

Financial details surrounding the game’s inclusion were not disclosed, as of this writing. The Esports Advocate has reached out to EA, the ALGS, and Respawn for a statement on the situation.

It is unclear as of this writing if the event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, will have a direct tie-in with the official league for Apex Legends, the Apex Legends Global Series (ALGS). Further, official accounts for the league and for the game on social media have not mentioned its inclusion in the Esports World Cup, as of this writing.

News of Apex Legends being included in the event is not all that surprising for a couple of reasons; first EA’s popular football game EA Sports FC 24 was already announced as a marquee title for the 2024 event, and secondly, there has been an uptick in professional esports teams signing Apex Legends rosters over the last several months including Cloud9, Spacestation Gaming, Virtus.pro, and NAVI (Natus Vincere), with other teams such as Team Liquid showing their interest in signing rosters; this is important because the Saudi government through the Esports World Cup Foundation is providing financial incentives for teams to sign rosters for games that are part of the Esports World Cup line-up of titles. 

Apex Legends joins a growing list of high-profile titles that are now a part of the Esports World Cup from major publishers including Activision Blizzard, Riot Games, Tencent, Capcom, and many others. Games that will be a part of the Esports World Cup this year include League of Legends, Teamfight Tactics, TEKKEN 8, Street Fighter 6, EA Sports FC 24, Rocket League, Fortnite, Free Fire, PUBG, PUBG Mobile, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Brawl Stars, StarCraft II, Overwatch 2, Counter-Strike 2, Honor of Kings, and Dota 2, among others.

In case you haven’t been paying attention, the Esports World Cup is a multi-week gaming festival and esports competition funded by the Saudi Arabian government-run sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF). Esports World Cup competitions are being facilitated by ESL FACEIT Group (in conjunction with the Saudi Esports Federation), which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Savvy Games Group. Savvy is also owned by the Saudi government. EFG serves as the home to tournament organizer ESL, tournament platform FACEIT, and esports and gaming festival company DreamHack.