The inaugural Esports World Cup is half way done and the mega tournament has reached significant viewership and attendance milestones in its first four weeks. According to the Esports World Cup Foundation, the event has brought in 1 million festival visitors to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and 177.5 million hours watched so far.
“After four quick weeks, the Esports World Cup has already surpassed 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 uniting the best games, players and Clubs, and reach fans beyond the core esports enthusiasts, while tapping into the 3.4 billion gamers around the world. I’m proud that we’re well on our way to achieving that goal here in Riyadh with hundreds of millions of viewers at home, and over a million visiting onsite, shattering not only our expectations, but also a lot of 2024 esports records.”
Before the event even started, the EWC announced a record-breaking $60 million total prize pool. To date, winners have taken home $16.5 million in prizes. The remaining $43.5 million will be split between the remaining 13 events and the $20 million reserved for its Club Championship. Currently, Saudi Arabia-based Team Falcons is in the lead followed by Team Liquid and Navi.
Over 1 million visitors have attended the on-site experience at Boulevard City in Riyadh, with the festival venues bringing in 289,000 visitors. The event has sold 60,000 tickets to esports tournaments, with only 3,000 remaining for the second half of the event.
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Esports World Cup viewership so far
During the first half of the eight week esports competition and festival, the EWC has completed nine of its 22 featured tournaments.
| Completed | Ongoing | Upcoming |
|---|---|---|
| Call of Duty: Warzone | Apex Legends | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III |
| Counter-Strike 2 | Honor of Kings | EA FC 24 |
| Dota 2 | Rainbow Six Siege | ESL R1 |
| Free Fire | Fortnite | |
| League of Legends | PUBG | |
| Mobile Legends: Bang Bang | Rocket League | |
| Mobile Legends: Bang Bang – Women’s | StarCraft II | |
| Overwatch 2 | Street Fighter 6 | |
| PUBG: Mobile | Teamfight Tactics | |
| Tekken 8 |
Together, these events have earned a combined 177.5 million hours watched so far. Dota 2 (55 million) and League of Legends (53 million) accounted for 60% of this viewership. Despite narrowly missing Dota 2’s top spot, League of Legends did see the highest peak viewership at 3.4 million viewers.
However, these figures include less reliable Chinese viewership platforms and qualifying rounds. When these are excluded, the viewership for completed tournaments totals 96.8 million hours watched according to EWC partner, Esports Charts.
While most tournaments are still pending, it’s likely that the event has earned the majority of its viewership. The EWC has already held its tournaments for the four most watched esports of 2023: League of Legends, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Counter-Strike 2 and Dota 2.
Perhaps it’s unsurprising that three of the world’s most watched esports averaged the most viewers of the tournament so far. League of Legends had the highest average audience — over 566,000 viewers — but ML:BB had the highest peak at 2.4 million viewers. Relatively speaking, Dota 2 underperformed because it aired over 145 hours of content — more than double that of the second longest event, ML:BB.
The Esports World Cup will conclude on August 25, 2024 when it crowns the winner of the EWC Club Championship.
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