The Esports World Cup Foundation (EWCF) announced that the prize pool for their inaugural event, the Esports World Cup (EWC), is a record-breaking $60+ million, hoping that the huge pool will send a “positive message” to the esports and gaming community.
🏆 $60,000,000+ 🏆 pic.twitter.com/lbSPvkBwm8
— Esports World Cup (@ESWCgg) April 16, 2024
The EWCF announced the unprecedented prize pool for the upcoming event, which will be held from July 4 to August 24, 2024. The prize pool, which is a whopping $60+ million, is the biggest in all of gaming history so far. For context, the previous biggest pool was $45 million, set by Gamers8: The Land of Heroes in 2023.
This large prize pool matches the scale of the event, which features a total of 19 games so far, ranging from EA Sports FC to Honor of Kings, and even the recently announced Apex Legends. The sizable reward also represents a huge step forward in the EWCF's efforts to grow the global esports industry.
Ralk Reichert, CEO of the EWCF, has this to say about why the gigantic prize pool:
Setting the record for largest esports prize pool is a remarkable achievement, but what I’m most proud of is the positive message this sends to the wider esports and gaming community.
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 athletes everywhere
Furthermore, the EWCF also hopes that this will help provide more sustainable career options for esports clubs and athletes. The EWCF wants to make the EWC a platform that “draws the best athletes, teams and organizations together for an international celebration of esports excellence and fandom.”
The EWCF also hopes that the EWC will turn Riyadh into “the epicenter of esports fandom and gaming culture” via the EWC Festival. The Festival will feature “gaming activations, community tournaments, pop culture celebrations, international experiences and much more.” More details about the Festival will be available at a later date.
How will the $60+ million prize pool be split?
The $60+ million prize pool for the Esports World Cup will be split four ways. $20 million of the prize money will be allocated to the Club Championship, which is an “innovative cross-game competitive format unique to the EWC.” The $20 million will be given to the top 16 esports Clubs based on performance.
Clubs can select which games they want to compete in, with their performance in said games recorded. At the end of the event, whichever Club performs the best across various game championships will be the winner, and will be crowned as the world's first Esports World Cup Club Champion.
As for the rest of the money, $30 million will be used for the Game Championships, with the total exceeding $33 million. $1.1 million will go to the MVP Awards, awarding the standout participant in each competition. Lastly, $7+ million will be awarded to teams and athletes who qualify for the EWC.
As mentioned above this $60+ million prize pool for the EWC overshadows all of the previous esports tournaments in the world. We'll have to wait and see if any tournament in the future will surpass EWC 2024, or if it'll only be surpassed by EWC 2025.
More information about the Esports World Cup is available on the official website, with upcoming game announcements on their X (formerly Twitter).
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