The Esports World Cup Foundation (EWCF) announced Tuesday that it has signed agreements with Chess.com, Moonton Games, and SNK Corporation to include their respective game offerings in the Esports Nations Cup.
Financial terms of these new deals were not disclosed. It should be noted that SNK is owned by Savvy Games Group, which is wholly owned by the Saudi Arabian government’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF).
One would assume that this means official Chess competitions under the Chess.com platform, Moonton’s Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, and SNK’s various fighting games will be included as competitive titles in the inaugural Esports Nations Cup in November 2026. These publishers and developers join Ubisoft (Rainbow Six Siege), Tencent Games (Honor of Kings), EA (EA FC, Apex Legends, and we assume the new Battlefield 6 battle royal game REDSEC), and Krafton (PUBG, PUBG Mobile, Battlegrounds Mobile India) as part of the Esports Nations Cup family.
Announced following the close of the 2025 Esports World Cup at the end of August, the Esports Nations Cup (ENC) is a new tournament property offering nations vs. nations competition. Initial plans for these international games are that they take place every two years, with the first event tentatively set to take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in November 2026. The competitions will be co-developed along with Electronic Arts, Krafton, Tencent, and Ubisoft, according to the original announcement.
The ENC announcement was made in August at the New Global Sport Conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and is a replacement of sorts for the Esports Olympic Games, which fell apart in October when the Saudi Arabian government and the International Olympic Committee announced that they had mutually agreed to cancel their 12-year deal for the games.
The EWCF, the EWC, and the ENC are all directly or indirectly (depending on whom you ask) funded by the Saudi Arabian government’s Public Investment Fund. In September, it was revealed that Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud (HRH Crown Prince MBS), was named the Chair of a new Board of Trustees for EWCF.
EWC competitions are operated and produced by ESL FACEIT Group (EFG), which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Savvy Games Group. Savvy is owned by the Saudi government, and its Chairman of the Board is HRH Crown Prince MBS. EFG is home to tournament organizer ESL, competition platform FACEIT, and esports and gaming festival company DreamHack.
Projects backed or owned by the Saudi Arabian government are frequently criticized for helping the government engage in so-called “sports washing,” or using various forms of entertainment to cover up its record on human rights, women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, its mistreatment (and executions of) journalists, 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.