The World Esports Cup (WEC) has broken new ground in the esports industry by registering more than 500 million viewers across all countries over its first tournament held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Team Falcons won the final on Sunday night and thus became the first club to win the Esports World Cup with a $7m cash prize.
Within 8 weeks, 250 million hours of content were viewed during this competition and it was ranked as the most watched tournament for 2024. A peak of 3.5 million people tuned into the League of Legends Grand Finals when T1 under Lee âFakerâ Sang-hyeok defeated Top Esports. The EWC turned out to be the biggest gaming and esports event globally with more than two million people attending the festival in Boulevard City.
Team Falcons command the Esports World Cup
Team Falcons, representing Saudi Arabia, was the leading team in the competition, participating in 18 out of the 22-game championships. With a total score of 5,665 points, they became winners of Call of Duty: Warzone and Free Fire and six more top-three finishes for other games. The success of this team was celebrated at the Closing Ceremony where CEO Mossad âMsdossaryâ Al-Dossary received the Club Championship Trophy from HRH Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia.
His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, crowned Team Falcons as the first-ever #EWChampion pic.twitter.com/E0hIxhshtG
â Esports World Cup (@EWC_EN) August 25, 2024
The Esports World Cup attracted over 1,500 players from over 100 countries who were regarded as the best globally and participated in games including League of Legends, Dota 2 and Counter-Strike 2. In total, it had $60 million prize money on offer breaking records with $20 million set aside for the Club Championship. The other teams to follow were Team Liquid, Team BDS, Team Vitality and T1 in that order with each scooping some good amount of cash at stake as prizes.
The Esports World Cup heads back to Riyadh in 2025
As a result of the successful 2024 edition, the Esports World Cup will return to Riyadh in July and August of 2025. The next event is expected to surpass this yearâs records, thus confirming Riyadh as the hub for gaming and esports worldwide.
Besides the competition, EWC also hosted the 2024 Esports Awards and the new New Global Sports Conference. These two events showed how eSports are increasingly becoming powerful forces shaping world culture and society, thus highlighting Saudi Arabiaâs commitment to nurturing this industry within the region.