Saudi Arabia’s upcoming Esports World Cup is set to have a total prize pool of 60 million USD, with clubs competing in some of the most popular games in the industry.
Now, it’s not like all of that money is going to first place- in a report by CNN they broke down the prize pool as also including MVP Awards and the like, but over 33 million of the 60 million will be used for prize pools.
Here’s the list of categories in the Esports World Cup:
- Apex Legends
- Counter-Strike 2,
- Dota 2
- EA Sports FC 24
- Fortnite,
- League of Legends
- Rocket League
- StarCraft II
- Street Fighter 6
- TEKKEN 8
The Esports World Cup is set for this Summer in the city of Riyadh, though more details have yet to be confirmed.
The Largest Total Prize Pool In Esports History At The Esports World Cup
“More than $60 million is a testament to our investment in the future of global esports, a commitment to esports fans who deserve exceptional events and an extension of our mission to create meaningful competitive opportunities with life-changing prize pools for esports players everywhere”, says Ralf Reichert, CEO of the Esports World Cup Foundation.
Saudi Arabia has been pushing forward to be a bigger name in entertainment- state-linked companies had previously purchased SNK Corporation, and also hosted the Gamers8 esports event last year which had a total 45 million USD prize pool.
The inclusion of fighting games as a category is an interesting one- given the lavish funds being awarded at the event, the Esports World Cup could dwarf even the Capcom Cup’s previous record of a million-dollar payout to first place.
It’s not just games either- the kingdom is also moving into other forms of entertainment, such as with their recently-announced Dragon Ball Theme Park.