Esports World Cup Offers $60M Prize Pool

The Esports World Cup Foundation announced Tuesday that the total prize pool for the inaugural Esports World Cup will be more than $60M USD, the largest prize pool ever provided for a multi-title esports tournament. This is an increase from the $45M that was provided for its predecessor, Gamers8: The Land of Heroes in 2023. The Esports World Cup will take place beginning in July in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 

The Saudi Arabian government-funded competition will feature official tournaments in such games as Apex Legends, Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, EA Sports FC 24, Fortnite, Free Fire, Honor of Kings, League of Legends, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Overwatch 2, PUBG Battleground, PUBG Mobile, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow 6 Siege, ESL R1, Rocket League, StarCraft II, Street Fighter 6, Teamfight Tactics, and TEKKEN 8.

“Setting the record for largest esports prize pool is a remarkable achievement, but what I’m most proud of is the positive message this sends to the wider esports and gaming community,” said Ralf Reichert, CEO, Esports World Cup Foundation. “More than $60 million is a testament to our investment in the future of global esports, a commitment to esports fans who deserve exceptional events and an extension of our mission to create meaningful competitive opportunities with life-changing prize pools for esports athletes everywhere.” 

The Esports World Cup will also focus on the Club Championship, described as an “innovative cross-game competitive format unique to the EWC,” which will award a total of $20M of that $60M overall prize pool to the top 16 clubs based on their overall performance. 

The remaining prize pool will be given out in three additional distribution categories: “Game Championships, MVP Awards, and Qualifiers.” Twenty “Game Championships” will have varying prize pools, for a “combined total exceeding” $33M. Around $50K will be given as an MVP Award to a standout participant in each competition. Finally, more than $7M will be awarded during qualifiers for championships.

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.