The Esports World Cup Foundation announced Monday that it has signed a multi-year partnership deal with Street Fighter developer and publisher Capcom.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the duration of this new partnership is three years and will allow the Esports World Cup Foundation to run Street Fighter 6 competitions at its Esports World Cup competition during the summer in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The partnership also integrates the Esports World Cup into the Street Fighter esports ecosystem – tying into Capcom’s CAPCOM Pro Tour and Street Fighter League – and incorporates EWC activations into Street Fighter’s in-game player interface, according to the announcement.
The top eight players from CAPCOM CUP 1 and 12 players from the Street Fighter League: World Championship will get direct qualification for the EWC 2025 Street Fighter 6 Finals. An additional 10 slots will be awarded to winners of the Capcom Pro Tour 2025 events, including Evo Japan and Vegas, CPT Combo Breaker, Blink Respawn, and CPT CEO.
The remaining slots will be available to winners of professional and grassroots Street Fighter 6 events worldwide, including the EWC Last Chance Qualifiers in August 2025, for a combined 48 players competing on stage at the Street Fighter 6 Finals in Riyadh.
This new partnership follows the previously announced return of Street Fighter 6 to EWC 2025, and kicks off on March 9, at the Street Fighter League: World Championship event in Ryōgoku Kokugikan, Japan.
“Through the Capcom Pro Tour and Capcom Cup, Street Fighter has been a cornerstone of the esports scene for the past ten years, celebrated for its fast-paced action, dramatic comebacks, and clutch moments that make it one of the most thrilling games to play and watch,” said Street Fighter 6 Producer Shuhei Matsumoto. “Our partnership with the Esports World Cup fosters an even deeper engagement between our players, fans and audiences worldwide. And this is just the beginning—together with EWC, we will continue to grow and innovate, and inspire the next generation of players.”
In case you are not familiar with it, the Esports World Cup is a multi-title, eight-week competition held on an annual basis during the summer that is managed by the Esports World Cup Foundation, a non-profit funded (it claims) by a sporting grant from the Saudi government’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund. The Esports World Cup is operated by ESL FACEIT Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of Saudi government-owned gaming and esports company Savvy Games Group. EFG is home to a number of tournament organizers and broadcast production companies, including DreamHack, ESL, FACEIT, and Esports Engine. FATAL FURY series developer and publisher SNK Corporation is also fully owned by Savvy Games Group.
Projects backed or owned by the Saudi Arabian government such as Esports World Cup are frequently criticized for helping the government engage in what is called “sports washing,” or using various forms of sport and entertainment to cover up its record on human rights, women’s rights, LGTBQ+ rights, military actions in Yemen, and more. These and other criticisms are actively highlighted by international watchdog groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.