Electronic Arts’ battle royale game Apex Legends will return as a competitive title at the Esports World Cup in the summer of 2025, according to an announcement from organizers the Esports World Cup Foundation.Â
Apex Legends joins other titles officially confirmed for the 2025 Esports World Cup including Krafton/Level Infinite’s (a Tencent-owned brand) popular mobile battle royale game PUBG Mobile, Ubisoft’s tactical team-based shooter Rainbow Six Siege, Valve’s MOBA Dota 2, Capcom’s Street Fighter 6, SEA LTD’s popular PC and mobile battle royal game Free Fire, Tencent’s MOBA Honor of Kings, Valve’s tactical team-based shooter Counter-Strike 2, and Activision Blizzard’s first-person shooters Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Call of Duty Warzone.
During the 2024 Apex Legends competition at the Esports World Cup this summer in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Alliance took home $600K—the lion’s share of a $1M total prize pool.
It is unclear from the announcement if EA will make this Apex Legends competition a mandatory stop on the Apex Legends Global Series (ALGS) calendar or if this will be treated as an exhibition competition that teams/players can pass on participating in.
The Esports World Cup Foundation describes itself as a non-profit that is funded by a sports grant from the Saudi Government’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund. The competition is facilitated through its close working relationships and ties to government-owned entities such as the Saudi Esports Federation, Savvy Games Group, and its subsidiary ESL FACEIT Group (which facilitated many aspects of the eight-week event last year).
ESL FACEIT Group is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Savvy Games Group—which in turn is owned by the PIF and led by Chairman of the board and 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.