The Saudi Arabian government-backed, multi-week esports and gaming festival Esports World Cup will include Street Fighter 6 in 2025, according to an announcement Tuesday from its organizer, the Esports World Cup Foundation.
The latest chapter in Capcom’s popular multi-platform fighting game franchise joins other games that have already been confirmed as competitive titles for the eight week event in 2025, including popular battle royal game Free Fire, MOBA Honor of Kings, and Activision Blizzard’s popular shooters, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Call of Duty Warzone.
Given MOONTON’s cooperation with the EWCF in 2024, we would be shocked if Mobile Legends: Bang Bang wasn’t part of the competition series in 2025 and announced as an official title by the end of 2024. Other games that could have a presence this year include League of Legends, Overwatch 2, Teamfight Tactics, Valorant, Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, EA FC or Konami’s eFootball (it will likely be the latter as we imagine that the Saudi government would want a title that is more closely tied to FIFA–for the sake of optics–as it gets ready to secure the World Cup), Rocket League, Fortnite, Rainbow Six Siege, and Apex Legends, among others.
The 2024 competition for Street Fighter 6 was not part of the official Capcom Pro Tour, but that may change in 2025 as companies become less concerned about the optics of partnering with the Saudi Arabian government (which has been widely criticized for its record on human rights, treatment of detractors within the country, and its stance on women’s rights, among other things) and like 2024, fans and players expect the prize pool will at least be in line with last year’s competition ($1M USD).
The Esports World Cup Foundation has not disclosed specific details on the 2025 Esports World Cup, and given that the Saudi government will host the first Esports Olympics—which is officially sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee and will be hosted within the country for the next decade or so—in 2025, it is unclear if that event will be rolled into the EWC or be its own separate entity.
The Esports World Cup Foundation claims that it is a non-profit that is funded by a “sports grant” from the Saudi Government’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, though the event has close 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 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.