The Esports World Cup Foundation announced on Monday that it has signed a partnership agreement with short-form content operations firm Greenfly.
Financial terms of the new deal were not disclosed.
Under the terms of the partnership, Greenfly will use its content platform and AI technology to automatically tag and organize content from Esports World Cup competitions for “media, partners, or internal use” by the EWCF.
“The Esports World Cup serves massive audiences with growing expectations for real-time, social-first content,” Greenfly CEO Daniel Kirschner said. “I’ve seen firsthand how gaming has long been a pioneer in fan engagement – with many athletes also acting as creators. Greenfly ensures that EWC delivers the kind of curated content athletes need to meet those expectations at scale. By connecting the entire EWC ecosystem, Greenfly is enabling the capture of new content formats and helping drive value to the sponsors powering the event.”
Greenfly joins other Esports World Cup Foundation partners and sponsors including Saudia, Cenomi Centers, the Saudi Tourism Authority, Hilton, Mastercard, IMG, Spotify, Lenovo, stc Group, Stream Hatchet, and Aramco, among others.
While this isn’t Greenfly’s first foray into esports, the company noted in a release that today’s announcement marks a major expansion milestone in the space, given the scope of this new partnership. The Santa Monica, California-based company works closely with other major sports and entertainment brands including the NBA, MLB, SPL, DFL, DP World Tour, Getty, U.S. cable networks and movie studios, among others..
The Esports World Cup is a seven week, multi-title competition hosted in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, featuring an overall prize pool of more than $70 million USD. The competition is funded by a grant from the Saudi Arabian government’s Public Investment Fund and operated in cooperation with ESL FACEIT Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of Saudi government-owned gaming and esports company Savvy Games Group. The 2025 edition runs from July 7 – Aug. 24.
Projects backed or owned by the Saudi Arabian government such as Esports World Cup are criticized for helping the government engage in “sports washing,” or using various forms of entertainment to cover up its record on human rights, women’s rights, LGTBQ+ rights, military actions in Yemen, and more. These and other criticisms have been highlighted by international watchdog groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
Editor’s note: an earlier iteration of this story noted that this deal represented Greenfly’s first foray into the world of esports. This was not true and the story was subsequently corrected after publication.