The Esports World Cup Foundation (EWCF) announced Wednesday that SNK Corporation’s popular fighting game FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves is one of the 16 titles that national teams will compete in at the inaugural Esports Nations Cup 2026 (ENC 2026), set to take in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from Nov. 2 – 29, 2026.
FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves joins other previously announced titles including Valve’s popular MOBA Dota 2, Ubisoft’s racing title Trackmania, and MOONTON’s Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.
The FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves tournament at ENC is set to take place beginning on Nov. 12, and will conclude with the playoff final on Nov. 15. The first stage will feature 32 players competing in a group stage, with four groups of eight players. The top four players from each group of that stage will advance to the next stage. The second stage will feature 16 players competing in a single-elimination playoff bracket. From there, teams will be eliminated until only two remain to compete in a playoff. All group stage matches will be best-of-seven, while layoff matches will be best-of-nine.
Some players will get direct invites. The top 16 players will be directly invited based on the official SNK World Championship 2026 point rankings An additional 13 teams will qualify through regional qualifier events, and three players will come from wildcard slots. The cut-off date for determining direct invites to ENC 2026 is June 28, according to the EWCF.
RANKING SYSTEM AND QUALIFIER INFO
Thirty-two (32) players representing their respective national teams will compete at the FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves event at ENC 2026: FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves regional qualifiers will take place July 3-5 using double-elimination brackets, hosted in each of the following regions:
- North America (1)
- Central America (1)
- Northern Latin America (1)
- Southern Latin America (1)
- Eastern Latin America (1)
- Western Europe (1)
- Northern + Eastern Europe (1)
- Middle East + North Africa (1)
- Central + South Africa (1)
- East Asia (1)
- Southeast Asia (1)
- South Asia (1)
- Oceania (1)
Additional information about the Esports Nations Cup will be released in the coming weeks.
FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves being included in ENC this year is a no-brainer, as the studio that makes the game is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Saudi Arabian government’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF). All of the PIF-owned gaming entities and investments are overseen by another wholly owned subsidiary, Savvy Games Group.
Projects backed by the Saudi government are often accused of being used for “sports washing,” or as a cover for the government to gloss over 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.