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While eSports has been taking center stage since the start of July at the eSports World Cup in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia we have seen the Kingdom doubling down on its huge eSports investment and showcasing what it is capable of.
As Riyadh hosts an amazing eight-week festival of gaming – the largest in the world – since the beginning of July across its hugely impressive Boulevard City, the EWC has offered the largest prize pool in eSports and features all the main competitive games on its roster.
The competition has a staggering $60 million dollars up for grabs with events staged across the Amazon Arena, STC Arena, and the Qiddya Arena.
A spokesperson for the EWC said, “We are proud to announce an unprecedented total prize pool of more than $60 million for the inaugural Esports World Cup this summer in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This life-changing sum is the largest prize pool ever awarded in the history of esports, shattering the previous record of $45 million set by Gamers8 in 2023.”
We covered Saudi Arabia’s intentions to become the global focal point for eSports at the end of last year as well as the recent announcement of the eSports Olympics and already we are seeing its effects.
For instance, I was in Dubai last weekend and two channels on the hotel TV were dedicated to events happening in Riyadh.
Ralf Reichart, CEO of the eSports World Cup recently told Middle East Campaign how the broadcast partnerships for the tournament were benefitting advertisers and viewers.
“EWC is meant to leapfrog the entire esports industry, and to bring esports and gaming to a truly global audience of 3.4 billion gamers like never before,” said Reichert.
“This trend will continue and just like the advent of any new global sport, advertisers – especially in more traditional spaces – will want to place their brands next to esports, in particular, since we touch a very sought-after market demographic.”
As for successes so far, Reichart highlighted one partnership in particular, saying, “Probably the most exciting would be our partnership with Amazon/Twitch, where we had a very unique opportunity to be plugged into Alexa and give users live updates, recaps and even a chance to join in on tournaments as they were happening,”
You can catch the final few weeks of the eSport World Cup here.
