Latest news with #RalfReichert
Saudi Gazette
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Saudi Gazette
Esports World Cup 2025 offers record $70 million prize pool
The ES TIMES — The Esports World Cup returns to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from July 7 to August 24, 2025, with the largest prize pool in esports history — over $70 million (SR262,785,040.00). Ticket sales for this highly anticipated event are now open. The event is organized by the Esports World Cup Foundation (EWCF). Following the success of the first 2024 edition, the second edition reinforces EWCF's position as the world's premier platform for the growth and development of the esports industry. This prize money represents an increase of $10 million / (SR37,540,720.00) compared to last year and underscores the foundation's long-standing commitment to creating sustainable career paths for gamers and supporting the development of multidisciplinary esports clubs. Ralf Reichert, CEO of the EWCF, said: "This record-breaking prize and our continued investments through our club partnership program and collaborations with publishers underscore our mission to provide long-term stability and opportunities within the ecosystem. While the $70+ million figure is impressive, our goal goes beyond numbers – we are building a strong and solid foundation for the future for everyone." 25 Tournaments, 24 Games, and Over 2,000 Players EWC 2025 will feature a total of 25 tournaments across 24 different games, with over 2,000 elite players and 200 leading clubs participating, in the largest multi-sport competition in esports history. Four new games have been added to the roster: Chess, Crossfire, FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves, and VALORANT. The New Global Sport Conference Returns The unique EWC Club Championship will allocate $27 million / ( SR101,359,944.00) of the total prize pool to the top 16 clubs based on their overall performance. The top club will win $7 million / (SR26,278,504.00).The remaining prize pool will be distributed among the gaming tournaments, with a total prize pool of over $38 million / (SR142,654,736.00), the MVP prize pool worth $450,000 / (SR1,689,332.40), and the Road to EWC qualifiers worth over $5 million (SR18,770,360.00), giving players and teams multiple opportunities to win and 2024 edition saw over 500 million online viewers and 2.6 million physical visitors to Boulevard City. Team Falcons excelled, winning the Club Championship with 5,665 points, ahead of Team Liquid and Team BDS. Mosaad Al-Dossary, CEO of Team Falcons, said: 'Winning our first title in front of our fans was unforgettable. The energy inside the arenas was unparalleled. That victory gave us momentum, and we are ready to build on it in 2025.' Steve Arhancet, Co-CEO of Team Liquid, added: 'EWC 2024 was one of the most successful years in our competitive history. The wins helped us expand into new games like Chess, strengthen our presence in Southeast Asia, and support charitable initiatives. EWC 2025 could be our golden moment.'The current lineup of EWC 2025 games includes: Apex Legends, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Call of Duty: Warzone, Chess, Counter-Strike 2, Crossfire, Dota 2, EA Sports FC 25, FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves, Free Fire, Honor of Kings, League of Legends, Mobile Legends Bang Bang, Overwatch 2, PUBG BATTLEGROUNDS, PUBG Mobile, Rainbow Six Siege X, Rennsport, Rocket League, Starcraft II, Rennsport, Tekken 8, Street Fighter 6, Teamfight Tactics, and EWCF has also announced expanded partnerships with major publishers such as Riot Games, Activision, and Capcom to support external tournaments and strengthen the global esports ecosystem. These partnerships will provide new ways for players to access the World Cup through official, sanctioned tournaments. The EWCF Club Partner Program has expanded to 40 EWCF Club Partner Program, designed to support clubs with the resources needed to enhance their global presence, now includes 40 leading organizations, including: 100 Thieves, All Gamers, Bilibili Gaming, Cloud9, Edward Gaming, EVOS, FaZe Clan, Fnatic, FURIA, G2 Esports, Gaimin Gladiators, Gen.G, Gentle Mates, HEROIC, JD Gaming, Karmine Corp., Movistar KOI, LEVIATAN, LOUD, MOUZ, NAVI, ONIC, POWR, REJECT, S8UL, Sentinels, T1, Team BDS, Team Falcons, Team Liquid, Team RRQ, Team Secret, Team Spirit, Team Vitality, Twisted Minds, Weibo Gaming, Wolves Esports, and ZETA DIVISION. In parallel with the competitions, The New Global Sport Conference will return to Riyadh on August 23 and 24, 2025, during the closing weekend of the EWC. The event will bring together 1,500 global leaders in esports, gaming, traditional sports, entertainment, and technology to discuss the future of sports and innovation internationally. This East-West event aims to accelerate global collaboration within the sector. For more details:
Fox News
10-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
Esports World Cup will offer 'life-changing sum' to top competitors
The Esports World Cup (EWC) will feature the best competitive gamers from across the globe, and the pressure got more intense on Thursday as a record-breaking prize pool was announced. The Esports World Cup Foundation (EWCF) announced a prize pool of more than $70 million, which will make the event among the most prestigious in sports. The event will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and run from July 7 to Aug. 24. "The record-breaking $70+ million prize pool, along with our commitment to the Club Partner Program and our multi-year publisher agreements, is a privilege to announce and validation of our purpose to elevate the industry, by giving players, clubs, publishers and all other stakeholders the stability needed to invest for future success," Esports World Cup CEO Ralf Reichert said in a news release. "While more than $70 million is an incredible, life-changing sum, it's always aligned with a long-term vision rather than short-term impact. It's not just to have more money at stake, but to create opportunities for everyone at every level of the ecosystem, and strengthen the industry for generations to come." There are 25 tournaments taking place in 24 games so far. Esports World Cup officials said the games include: Apex Legends, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Call of Duty: Warzone, Chess, Counter-Strike 2, Crossfire, Dota 2, EA Sports FC 25, FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves, Free Fire, Honor of Kings, League of Legends, Mobile Legends Bang Bang, Overwatch 2, PUBG BATTLEGROUNDS, PUBG Mobile, Rainbow Six Siege, Rennsport, Rocket League, Starcraft II, Street Fighter 6, Teamfight Tactics, and VALORANT. There are also 40 clubs that have joined the EWCF Club Partner Program ahead of the Esports World Cup, including: 100 Thieves, All Gamers, Bilibili Gaming, Cloud9, Edward Gaming, EVOS, FaZe Clan, Fnatic, FURIA, G2 Esports, Gaimin Gladiators, Gen.G, Gentle Mates, HEROIC, JD Gaming, Karmine Corp., Movistar KOI, LEVIATAN, LOUD, MOUZ, NAVI, ONIC, POWR, REJECT, S8UL, Sentinels, T1, Team BDS, Team Falcons, Team Liquid, Team RRQ, Team Secret, Team Spirit, Team Vitality, Twisted Minds, Weibo Gaming, Wolves Esports, ZETA DIVISION. Team Falcons won the Club Championship and a $7 million prize in the inaugural event last year. The remainder of the prize pool "will be divided into three distribution categories: Game Championships, MVP Awards, and Qualifiers on the Road to EWC. Each of the Game Championships will have its prize pool with a combined total exceeding $38 million. In addition, a $450,000 MVP Award pool will be allocated to standout participants across all competitions," organizers said. More than $5 million will be awarded to Road to EWC qualifiers. "Winning the Club Championship crown and $7 million at the inaugural Esports World Cup was a defining moment for Team Falcons," Team Falcons CEO Mosaad Al-Dossary said in a news release. "The opportunity to compete in front of our home fans, where they made the arenas shake with every great play, motivated us like never before, and it was an honor to secure the victory for them. "We've used the momentum and winnings from last year to build on our success and we look forward to continuing that legacy this summer." Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Forbes
10-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Esports World Cup Announces Record Breaking $70 Million Prize Pool
Prize money in the world of esports has long been a divisive topic. While the multi-million dollar prize pools of the Dota 2 International always made headlines, a few years down the line, there is almost no doubt that these heights made the scene unsustainable for a lot of teams outside of the very top players who took the lion's share of those prize pools. However, on the other side of the coin, when players in some of the biggest games in the world are competing for just a few thousand dollars, it can feel like their years of work to reach the top are not being respected. It's difficult to stay on the right side of the line for many esports tournament organisers, and that only becomes a bigger issue when you have more than 20 different tournaments happening within two months and an overall championship encompassing all of them. That is where the Esports World Cup finds itself, returning for a second year with the mandate to sustainably grow esports, but offer enough of a reward that the top teams will do everything they can to earn a spot in the tournament. 'We went in last year with $60 million, it was unheard of, it was so much bigger than anything else, and at the same time, we wanted to leave room for growth,' said Ralf Reichert, CEO of the Esports World Cup Foundation. 'So we went from 60 to 70 [million dollars prize pool] The $70 million prize pool for the 2025 event has more than $38 million dedicated to individual game prize pools, over $5 million for qualifying events and $450,000 for MVP awards across the Esports World Cup. The rest, around $27 million, is reserved for the Club Championship, the cross game championship where organisations can win serious money if they perform well across multiple games. The Club Championship winners will walk away with $7 million, which will be one of the biggest individual payouts in esports history. 'If you look at the Esports World Cup, [the Club Championship is] what holds it together,' said Reichert. 'So on the one hand it's fantastic that we have all of these games and can bring them together at one point in time, which is unique, then the club championship is what makes it a story and wraps it together. So we don't consider it as a side element but at the very heart and centre of the Esports World Cup. So naturally this should have the highest prize money.' But really, the most important figures when it comes to the prize pool are what the players themselves can be walking away with. While the Esports World Cup obviously features all of the biggest games, this year with the addition of Valorant, which often have multi-million dollar prize pools, it also features a lot of the slightly smaller esports, where big prize pools are rarer. That means some players in these games can win truly life changing money, and that has already been proven off the back of the 2024 event. 'We literally changed lives,' said Reichert. 'In Street Fighter with Xiao Hai who won $350,000, he's 35, which was maybe not his last [tournament], but he's certainly in the autumn of his career. We could see how much this meant to him as a title, but as well in terms of his financial future. In the MLBB women's event, we had a $180,000 prize for first, which is by far the largest ever for a women's tournament, and those winners who went home, can live for a few years from this. And last but not least, in PUBG Mobile the Brazilian org Alpha7 went home with $470,000 which, living in Brazil, it's almost a fortune for such a club.' There is no doubt that the money on offer to both players and clubs is impressive, and will likely change a lot of lives once it has all been handed out later this year. But it's almost surprising at how the prize pool has grown this year. On paper, the $10 million increase is significant, but when you consider that includes entirely new prize pools for new tournaments being added, and a significant amount going to qualification events, it's perhaps not quite the major increase many expected after a successful first year and the goal of growing year by year. However, this is by design, with the Esports World Cup Foundation very conscious of not doing too much too quickly. 'There's nothing worse than spending a billion one year and zero the next year,' said Reichert. 'So we would rather spend the billion over the next 10–15 years and grow it step by step, because that's what ultimately will help the sport most and the sport is above everything.' For now, the focus is on the $70 million that will be handed out this summer across the 25 tournaments in 24 games that are set to take place in Riyadh. With so much cash on the line, multiple lives will change as a result of this mammoth prize pool, and there is no doubt that competition will lead to some incredible stories you will not want to miss.
Al Arabiya
10-04-2025
- Business
- Al Arabiya
Esports World Cup to return to Riyadh with over $70 mln prize pool
The Esports World Cup will return this summer to Riyadh with a record prize pool of more than $70 million, its organizer said on Thursday, as Saudi Arabia continues its push to become a global gaming hub. This year's tournament will expand to 24 games, adding chess and Riot Games' popular shooter 'Valorant' to last year's roster of 21 games. For more news on sports in Saudi Arabia, visit our dedicated page. As competitive gaming moves into the mainstream and attracts deep-pocketed investors, Saudi Arabia is betting big on the industry and will host the inaugural Olympic Esports Games in 2027, under a 12-year deal with the International Olympic Committee. 'What has been built organically through the last 25 years now gets supported by public interest,' Ralf Reichert, CEO of Esports World Cup Foundation told Reuters, adding that the investment is part of a 'clear economic agenda.' The event is part of Saudi Arabia's 'Vision 2030' economic diversification strategy, which has seen billions invested in various sports events. The inclusion of Chess, the centuries-old board game, in the esports tournament comes after it experienced a significant revival during the pandemic and continues to thrive through competitions organized on platforms like Reichert said eight of the world's top-ranked 10 players have signed with up esports clubs, with Magnus Carlsen and Arjun Erigaisi confirmed to compete at the tournament this year. The total prize pool, up from $60 million last year, will be split between game champions and a $25 million fund earmarked for clubs to nurture talent and support players. That funding could be key for an industry that has been rocked by financial instability, as several teams that surged in popularity during the pandemic have since faltered in a very capital-heavy industry. Last month, the Kingdom's Public Investment Fund-owned Scopely bought Niantic Labs' gaming division, the force behind the hit augmented reality game 'Pokemon Go', for $3.5 billion.
Reuters
10-04-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
Esports World Cup returns to Riyadh with a record $70 million prize pool amid Saudi gaming push
April 10 (Reuters) - The Esports World Cup will return this summer to Riyadh with a record prize pool of more than $70 million, its organizer said on Thursday, as Saudi Arabia continues its push to become a global gaming hub. This year's tournament will expand to 24 games, adding chess and Riot Games' popular shooter "Valorant" to last year's roster of 21 games. here. As competitive gaming moves into the mainstream and attracts deep-pocketed investors, Saudi Arabia is betting big on the industry and will host the inaugural Olympic Esports Games in 2027, under a 12-year deal with the International Olympic Committee. "What has been built organically through the last 25 years now gets supported by public interest," Ralf Reichert, CEO of Esports World Cup Foundation told Reuters, adding that the investment is part of a "clear economic agenda." The event is part of Saudi Arabia's "Vision 2030" economic diversification strategy, which has seen billions invested in various sports events amid criticism of "sportswashing" over the country's human rights record. The inclusion of Chess, the centuries-old board game, in the esports tournament comes after it experienced a significant revival during the pandemic and continues to thrive through competitions organized on platforms like Reichert said eight of the world's top-ranked 10 players have signed with up esports clubs, with Magnus Carlsen and Arjun Erigaisi confirmed to compete at the tournament this year. The total prize pool, up from $60 million last year, will be split between game champions and a $25 million fund earmarked for clubs to nurture talent and support players. That funding could be key for an industry that has been rocked by financial instability, as several teams that surged in popularity during the pandemic have since faltered in a very capital-heavy industry. Last month, the Kingdom's Public Investment Fund-owned Scopely bought Niantic Labs' gaming division, the force behind the hit augmented reality game "Pokemon Go", for $3.5 billion.
