The Esports World Cup officially kicked off its second annual tournament in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, drawing over 2,000 competitors from 84 different countries.

Riyadh

The Esports World Cup has commenced its second annual tournament in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, bringing together more than 2,000 competitors from 84 countries. The event features a record $70 million prize pool, the largest in esports history, and includes popular games such as League of Legends, Valorant, and Dota 2, as well as chess, with world champion Magnus Carlsen participating.

Organisers aim to establish the tournament as a global spectacle on par with the World Cup or Olympics. Last year's event attracted 500 million online viewers, and the esports industry is projected to nearly double its global revenue by 2025, highlighting the rapid growth and increasing mainstream appeal of competitive gaming.

Record breaking prize pool fueling second Esports World Cup

It's 40 degrees Celsius. There are hundreds of fans blowing mist to cool us down across Riyadh's boulevard city, all for the biggest event of the season, the Esports World Cup happening right here in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Nearly 2,000 top players from more than 70 countries battling it out for seven weeks just to get a piece of the prize. A record-breaking $70 million prize pool, the biggest in esports history. Would these people play and compete without the money? The answer is most likely yes. 90 plus percent of them would do that. What we want to do though, and this prize money is the manifestation of it, we want them to be able to make a living out of this. They want to be professional gamers, this prize money is enabling them to be professional gamers. The biggest games are here featuring top clubs and players, with fan favorites like League of Legends, Valorant and Dota 2 taking centre stage. Last year, 500 million people watched EWC online, and the plan is to grow that number this year. We put a lot of hours into our craft. We might not be running around a football pitch, which is also quite challenging obviously, but we are playing against some of the best players in the world. 31-year-old British Valorant veteran, Boaster, says it's not just about the money. For him, it's about getting people to watch, feel the excitement and experience esports as a global phenomenon that unites communities. For me, I just want to be the best. When I was a kid, like when I was 18 and I was working my part-time jobs, I wasn't earning anything and I was just wanting to be pro and it was just a dream I had. It just so happens there's a lot of money involved now, which is crazy. And also new in the lineup this year is chess. Norwegian grandmaster and world champion, Magnus Carlsen, reflexing his skills in Riyadh. I think this is a massive moment for chess. Chess has become more and more online over the last few years, especially since COVID when we couldn't host live tournaments and online was what we had. Those online tournaments became bigger and bigger and it feels like this is the next step. This is obviously going to be for much bigger stakes, for a bigger audience, for a different audience. So I'm really, really excited to be part of this. And the kingdom is leveling up. The Esport World Cup evolved from Gamers 8 and the next upgrade is to ShakeUp for global sports industry. The aim from this event is to build and to build something that is a global spectacle, to build something that will in 30, 60 years be the premier sporting event in the world, similar to what the World Cup or the Olympics is now. Esports is booming. According to PWC, global revenue is expected to reach $1.86 billion by 2025. That's almost double 2020's $996 million. And Middle East is clearly jumping in on the action too. From the music, entertainment, to the games and even this. I mean, I can, yeah. A bit of twerking. This year's Esports World Cup has a little something for everyone. Eleni Jokar, CRN, Riyadh.

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