Esports World Cup draws unprecedented viewership, sell-out crowd in first half of inaugural event
RIYADH: The Esports World Cup, the world's largest e-sports competition and festival, has entered the second half of its competition after drawing unprecedented viewership and live attendance to its inaugural event at Boulevard Riyadh City.
The Esports World Cup Foundation, the non-profit organization that hosts the EWC, has announced a total of 177.5 million hours watched in the first four weeks, with a number of individual tournaments setting viewership record highs. Additionally, a total of $16.5 million of the event's record $60 million prize pool has been distributed across nine of 22 total championships. The event's daily festival has attracted more than one million visitors in the first half of the landmark event taking place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
“After four fast weeks, the Esports World Cup has already exceeded our highest expectations,” said Ralf Reichert, CEO of the Esports World Cup Foundation. “When we started this journey, our goal was to leapfrog the esports industry with a historic global event that unites the best games, players and clubs, reaching fans beyond the core esports enthusiasts, while leveraging the 3.4 billion players around I am proud that we are well on our way to achieving that goal here in Riyadh with hundreds of millions of viewers at home and over a million visitors in attendance, breaking not only our expectations but also many 2024 EWC records has awarded more than $16 million in life-changing prize money to date, with millions more to come, including the ultimate prize – a $20 million share of the Esports World Cup Club Championship at the end of August.”
Viewers and social highlights
In the first four weeks of the Esports World Cup, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang recorded the event's highest viewership with nearly 2.4 million concurrent viewers, the largest number for any MLBB tournament in 2024. The game's popularity extended to the MLBB Women's Invitational at EWC, recording 2 .5 million watched hours during its 34-hour total broadcast. With a peak viewership of 265,117, it became the fourth most watched event in women's eSports history. Mobile gaming in general has exceeded viewer expectations at EWC, with Free Fire attracting more than 441,000 top competitors.
On PC, two popular online multiplayer battle arena games set high watermarks for viewers at EWC. With 55 million hours watched, the Dota 2 competition was the most watched tournament for the game this year, while the League of Legends competition was the biggest third-party tournament for the game in the last decade, with 53 million hours watched and 3.4 million peak viewers (including China ).
EWC has attracted great engagement from fans on social media. Its accounts have collectively recorded more than one billion views, 270 million social video views and 58 million total social engagements, a testament to the event's resonance among the global eSports community and beyond.
Presence highlights
During the first half of EWC, more than one million visitors attended the massive on-site experience at Boulevard City in Riyadh. The festival venues alone have attracted 289,000 visitors, while the esports competitions have sold more than 60,000 tickets to date. The esports events are less than 3,000 tickets from a total sellout with four weeks and 13 races remaining. The EWC day pass is sold out for the entire tournament, while the POWR Villa and Falcons HQ are fully booked through August 17th.
During week 3, EWC hosted international soccer superstars Neymar and Diogo Jota. As enthusiastic esports fans, both athletes took in the energetic atmosphere surrounding the Counter-Strike 2 event.
“Being here at the first Esports World Cup is a truly amazing experience,” said Jota. “The organization and scale behind this event is really impressive, even more than I thought. I've always believed in the potential of eSports, even before I started my own team, and EWC is proof that this scene is developing quickly . This level of investment and infrastructure is exactly what eSports needs to grow and reach a wider audience. I'm excited to see how EWC continues to evolve and push the boundaries of competitive gaming.”
Competition highlights
The EWC has already awarded $16.5 million in prize money over nine tournament championships and an additional $450,000 in MVP awards. More than $44 million in prize money will be awarded over the final four weeks of competition covering the remaining 13 championships and the Club Championship.
Currently, Team Falcons sits atop the Esports World Cup club championship standings with 3,500 points, 2,330 above second place Team Liquid. The Club Championship, an innovative cross-game competition format unique to the EWC with a dedicated $20 million prize pool, rewards the top 16 clubs based on their overall performance. When the event concludes, the club with the best performance across the 22 gaming championships will be crowned the world's first Esports World Cup Club Champions.
The first four weeks have delivered a number of upsets and dominant performances. In the record-breaking $500,000 Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Women's Invitational, Smart Omega Empress upset tournament favorite Team Vitality to win the $180,000 top prize. In the Overwatch 2 tournament, Crazy Raccoon rolled through the console, winning 15 of 17 maps played to take home the trophy and $400,000. And in League of Legends, global superstar Faker led defending world champions T1 to a 3-1 victory over Top Esports, adding another international accolade to his long career.
Closing weekend
The biggest weekend in esports history will take place on August 24-25 as the inaugural EWC draws to a close.
On August 24, the Esports Awards 2024, the most prestigious night in eSports, will honor the best in the industry from all over the world, celebrating clubs, athletes, content creators, games and more. Highlights of the evening will include the Lifetime Achievement Mixer, the red carpet event, the esports village and the star-studded awards ceremony itself, which last year attracted more than 22 million viewers.
The second two-day New Global Sport Conference kicks off on August 24 as it brings together leaders from eSports, gaming, business, sports and entertainment to explore “The Future of Fandom”. Thought leaders from around the world will discuss fandom's impact on business planning, content, IP and media rights, marketing and community-building. The speaker lineup so far includes: Prince Faisal bin Bandar, Ralf Reichert, Magnus Carlsen, Toshimoto Mitomo, Greg Norman, Maya Rogers, RJ Cutler, Dr. Songyee Yoon, Sir Leonard Blavatnik and Joe Marsh.
The weekend concludes on August 25 when the first Esports World Cup Club Champion is crowned and awarded their share of the Club Championship's $20 million prize pool. The closing ceremony of the EWC then welcomes clubs, players and fans to gather for a spectacular celebration, with fireworks, a light show and live music.
