Mastercard Partners With the Esports World Cup

Esports World Cup partners with Mastercard

The Esports World Cup Foundation announced Thursday that credit card company Mastercard has signed on as an official partner of the Esports World Cup taking place now in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, until Aug. 25.

Financial terms of the partnership were not disclosed.

Like its other partnerships, the Esports World Cup Foundation’s deal with Mastercard is regional in nature—it is through Mastercard’s regional division for Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

According to a release, the new partnership will provide attendees with “seamless digital payments,” and the chance to win prizes by competing in a “broad selection of rousing challenges.” In addition Mastercard will have an on-site booth at the Esports Arena, where it will host activations and “meet-and-greets with Saudi esports stars and gaming personalities.” Finally, Mastercard will host weekly tournaments and teamwork challenges for fans in its game Gen Blend for prizes.

“At Mastercard, we are committed to connecting people to their passions,” said Maria Medvedeva, Country Manager, Saudi Arabia & Bahrain, Mastercard. “With Saudi Arabia being home to some of the most skilled and dedicated gamers in the world, we are proud to contribute to the development of the Kingdom’s gaming industry in line with Vision 2030 and in tandem with Saudi Esports Federation (SEF). We look forward to further strengthening our long-standing partnership with SEF to fuel the robust gaming ecosystem in the Kingdom. We look forward to welcoming people from all over the world to EWC.”

Mastercard joins other Esports World Cup partners including Heinz, Logitech G, Secretlab, Esports Charts, VSPO (which it has an investment in), Unilever, TikTok, government-owned Aramco, HONOR, Pepsi, adidas, Bayes Esports (which is also a partner of government-owned ESL FACEIT Group), KitKat, government-owned telecom stc Group, and the Esports Awards.

The Esports World Cup is a multi-week, multi-discipline esports competition running from July 3 – Aug. 25, in Riyadh. The event will feature a total prize pool of $60M USD spread across multiple games including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, Call of Duty: Warzone, 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 Battlegrounds, PUBG Mobile, Rennsport, Rocket League, StarCraft II, Street Fighter 6, Teamfight Tactics, TEKKEN 8, and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow 6 Siege.

The Esports World Cup is funded by a grant from the Saudi Arabian government, while competitions are being facilitated by ESL FACEIT Group, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Savvy Games Group—which in turn is owned by the Saudi government’s Public Investment Fund and its Chairman of the board is Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler HRH Crown Prince MBS. EFG is home to tournament organizer ESL, Esports Engine, competition platform FACEIT, and esports and gaming festival company DreamHack.