Taking over from the previous Gamers8 tournaments, the Esports World Cup will boast a staggering US$60 million prize pool, as it aims to be the largest esports event to date.

However, its location in Saudi Arabia, a country criticized for its human rights record, has sparked debate within the gaming community.

The tournament will feature 20 distinct tournaments across a variety of titles, and they include:

Each tournament will follow a unique format while contributing to the larger Club Championship.

This innovative competition will award US$20 million to the top 16 clubs based on their performance across multiple titles.

The prize pool distribution includes over US$33 million for individual game tournaments, US$20 million for the Club Championship, US$1.1 million for MVP awards, and US$7.6 million for qualifying rewards.

The significant investment reflects the organizers’ commitment to fostering the global esports industry and providing substantial opportunities for players and clubs.

Despite the financial allure, the event’s association with Saudi Arabia has drawn criticism.

The country’s track record on LGBTQ+ rights, gender equality, and free speech clashes with the inclusive values often espoused by the gaming community.

However, for many esports organizations grappling with financial challenges, the opportunity to compete for such substantial prizes may outweigh ethical concerns.

The Esports World Cup represents a pivotal moment for esports, aiming to elevate the industry to the scale of traditional sports events like the Olympics.

With the backing of the Saudi Arabian government and a clear vision for growth, the tournament seeks to establish Riyadh as a global hub for gaming and esports.

As preparations for the event continue, details regarding specific tournament formats, dates, and prize pool distributions will be eagerly awaited by fans and participants alike.

While the debate over the tournament’s location may persist, the Esports World Cup signals a significant milestone in the continued evolution of competitive gaming on the world stage.

#EsportsWorldCup 2024 prize pool in a nutshell:
$30,000,000+ | Game Championships
$20,000,000 | Club Championship
$7,600,000 | Qualifiers
$1,100,000 | MVP Awards pic.twitter.com/LNGa1v8V8e

— Esports World Cup (@ESWCgg) April 16, 2024

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This landmark announcement was made during The New Global Sport Conference in Riyadh, where the country expressed its intention to position itself as a global epicenter for gaming and esports.

The Esports World Cup initiative is designed to replace the previous Gamers8 event, which took place earlier this year and featured a substantial prize pool of over $45 million distributed across various esports tournaments.

We are future-hosting, world-racing

The key highlights of the Esports World Cup that has been shared
through #NGSC2023 pic.twitter.com/41e2D5P6gT

— ??????? ??????? ???????? ??????????? (@Saudi_Esports) October 23, 2023

Saudi Arabia has been making significant strides in the esports and gaming realm in recent years.

This includes the development of NEOM, a futuristic city, which some view as part of the government’s efforts to improve its international image.

The Western world has criticized the country for its human rights issues and anti-LGBTQ+ laws, making these initiatives part of a broader strategy known as “sportswashing.”

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman sees the Esports World Cup as a “natural next step” to establish Saudi Arabia as the premier global hub for gaming and esports.

“The competition will enhance our progress towards realizing the Vision 2030 objectives of diversifying the economy, growing the tourism sector, creating new jobs in various industries, and providing world-class entertainment for citizens, residents, and visitors alike,” Salman said.

In addition to announcing the Esports World Cup, Saudi Arabia introduced the Esports World Cup Foundation, which aims to make a lasting impact on the gaming ecosystem.

Ralf Reichert, Chairman of ESL FACEIT, has been appointed as the CEO of the foundation.

While the specific lineup of games for the Esports World Cup has yet to be revealed, the event is expected to feature major esports titles.

Several prominent organizations, including G2 Esports, Team Vitality, Ninjas in Pyjamas, 100 Thieves, Guild, LGD, and Falcons, have already committed to participating.

Notably, major publishers such as Ubisoft and Take-Two Interactive attended The New Global Sport Conference, suggesting a high level of industry support.

Further details about the event are anticipated to be disclosed in the coming weeks.

This ambitious esports endeavour aims to draw global attention and catapult Saudi Arabia into the forefront of the esports landscape.

As the Esports World Cup takes shape, it will be closely watched for its potential to significantly impact the esports world while simultaneously addressing broader economic and tourism objectives.

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The 2023 Valorant Champions Tour season finale is in full swing. The final week of Champions will feature the four remaining teams, with the grand final set to be played on Sunday, August 26.

With a US$2.25 million prize pool and a US$1 million winners cheque up for grabs, every team in attendance will be giving it their all as they seek to become the third VCT Champions winner.

Some of the key leagues and tournaments taking place in the esports world this week include:

• VCT Champions 2023

  Paper Rex and Evil Geniuses will clash in the upper-bracket final for the first spot in the grand final, while LOUD and Fnatic will meet in the lower-bracket semi-final.

  The loser from the upper-bracket will play the winner of the lower-bracket semi-final to determine who will take the second place in the grand final.

  Check out our extensive VCT Champions betting guide to get the latest odds and tournament information.

• Gamers8 Rocket League

  The final tournament of the Gamers8 festival will kick off on August 24, with the Gamers8 Rocket League event scheduled to run across the final weekend in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

  After taking out the RLCS World Championship earlier this month, most esports betting sites have Team Vitality as the clear $2.75 favourite to take out the Gamers8 Rocket League event.

  Behind Vitality, Team BDS ($6.50), Karmine Corp ($7.50), and FURIA ($8.00) are all considered strong chances.

  Check out our extensive Gamers8 Rocket League betting guide to get the latest odds and tournament information.

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After being completely dominated on the opening map of the series (16-7), Team Vitality responded with back-to-back map victories (16-12, 16-9) to claim the US$400,000 winners�� cheque.

WELCOME IN THE VITALITY ERA #VforVictory

YOUR #Gamers8 CHAMPIONS pic.twitter.com/wqUN3B7Ocu

— Team Vitality (@TeamVitality) August 20, 2023

The current world number two entered the tournament as slight favourites with most esports betting sites, after their third-fourth finish at IEM Cologne earlier in the month.

Throughout the five-day event, Vitality and ENCE were the standout performers among the 16 teams that made the trip to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and they were deserving finalists for the US$1 million event.

ENCE came into the match with a point to prove after they were convincingly beaten by G2 Esports in the final of IEM Cologne just two weeks earlier.

However, even with a dominant victory over Vitality on Anubis, they went on to drop the next two maps and finish as runners-up again.

As for the champions, Vitality are expected to overtake Heroic as the world��s number one CS:GO team, as their Gamers8 triumph represents their third title success in the last four months.

Mathieu ��ZywOo�� Herbaut was rewarded for another stellar tournament with the Most Valuable Player title after he recorded the third-best average rating (1.26) at the event and carried his squad to victory in the grand final.

ZywOo picked up the 16th MVP award of his career and his third of 2023, cementing his claim as the world��s best CS:GO player.

Vitality and ENCE will now look ahead to ESL Pro League Season 18, which begins on August 30.

They will go into the $850,000 event as equal favourites with G2 Esports at $4.50 with GG Bet.

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?G2 Esports won their second big trophy of the year at the start of August when they defeated ENCE in the finals of Intel Extreme Masters Cologne 2023. It marked a significant win for G2 Esports, who re-emerged as a top contender in big events, but given their lack of success since February, it might’ve also been a complete fluke.

9INE also competed in Cologne and looked good in the play-ins, where the Polish CS:GO squad defeated OG (19-17) and Team Liquid (2-1). Unfortunately, their group stage run was cut short with two back-to-back defeats against ENCE (1-2) and Cloud9 (2-1).

Seeing G2 Esports priced as favourites for this match isn’t surprising, but at $1.25, they might be a bit overrated. In the latter stages of IEM Cologne 2023, G2 looked incredible, but before that, they produced several shaky performances, so it’s fair to question whether they have found the stability needed to stay at the top level.

9INE are weaker than G2, but at $1.82 with CS:GO betting sites, they’re a good bet to win at least one map.

FaZe Clan have had their ups and downs this season, and they’re currently in a bit of a downward trend. After a solid run through BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2023, FaZe fell apart at IEM Cologne 2023, where they placed 9th-12th following two losses against G2 Esports (0-2) and Natus Vincere (0-2).

And even during BLAST Premier, FaZe didn’t look particularly good, so their failed attempt to win the IEM Cologne trophy was hardly a shock.

Virtus.pro rebuilt their roster in July with the signing of Pavel “PASHANOJ” Legostaev and Nikolay “mir” Bityukov, and they’ve since attended three events – including CCT Online Finals #2, which VP won last week. However, two days later, Virtus.pro crashed out of Intel Extreme Masters Sydney 2023: European Open Qualifier #2 in fifth-eighth place.

Virtus.pro haven’t looked amazing, but neither have FaZe Clan. And even though FaZe field better players and will likely come out as the winners, this match can easily go the distance.

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?Apeks and GamerLegion last met in May during the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 Legends Stage, when GamerLegion won 2-0, but for this match, GamerLegion are expected to struggle. That doesn’t sound right since GamerLegion aren’t that much weaker than Apeks.

GamerLegion put themselves on the map with a silver medal from the Paris Major, and they didn’t look bad earlier this month at Intel Extreme Masters Cologne 2023. Even though Sanzhar “neaLaN” Iskhakov and co. didn’t win a medal, GamerLegion still placed in the top eight, which is a commendable achievement.

Apeks haven’t won much since the summer break, and their performances at Thunderpick World Championship 2023: European Series #1 (9th-16th) and CCT Online Finals #2 (9th-12th) this month were quite a disaster. This is still a very strong team, as they showed in Paris (3rd-4th), but Apeks enter Gamers8 in terrible form, so perhaps we shouldn’t count on them too much.

This looks like a 50-50 match, so we have to side with GamerLegion at underdog odds.

?MiBR are huge $8.50 underdogs for their match against Team Vitality, and as absurd as that number is, it’s a fair price. Team Vitality are one of the best CS:GO teams in the world, whereas MiBR are not even close to being considered an A-Tier team.

The Brazilian team has not won a single big event this year, and their recent performances at CCT North Europe Series #6 (5th-8th) and CCT Online Finals #2 (5th-6th) only prove that MiBR are hardly competitive in lower-tier tournaments, so it’s tough to feel overly optimistic about their chance to make it far at Gamers8.

Esports betting sites have set the total round line at 12.5, which is a big number, but the gap between Vitality and MiBR is large enough to believe that the Bees can cover it.

?Natus Vincere’s new international project has yet to yield much success, and it’s hard to believe that’ll change at Gamers8. Their first campaign with a rebuilt roster �C BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2023 �C ended in a fourth-sixth place finish, and in Cologne, Natus Vincere crashed out of the group stage, finishing the tournament in seventh-eighth place.

Considering the quality of the opponents NaVi faced, that wasn’t a disastrous outcome, but this iteration of Natus Vincere seems much weaker.
FURIA’s new lineup with Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo and Marcelo “chelo” Cespedes also failed to find any traction, and even that is an understatement. The Brazilians crashed out of two IEM Sydney 2023 European Open Qualifiers in ninth-16th and 17th-32nd place, suffering bad losses against Europe’s second-tier squads.

On paper, FURIA look like a solid team, and if they were in better shape, backing them to defeat Natus Vincere would make a lot of sense. But even in the disjointed state Natus Vincere are now, they should make light work of FURIA, who’ve been recently struggling against teams ranked well outside of the top-50.

By reaching the finals of Intel Extreme Masters Cologne 2023, ENCE earned recognition as one of the world’s strongest CS:GO teams, but that’s been a long time coming. ENCE have been playing excellent CS since even before the summer break, and their run in Cologne only proved that this is a very competitive squad that might produce another deep run in Riyadh.

Tier next opponents, Team Liquid, had quite a disastrous return from the summer break, failing to accomplish much at BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2023 (7th-8th) and IEM Cologne 2023 (17th-20th). In their defence, Liquid replaced two players in June and lost Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski, but that’s no excuse for their performances against BIG (2-1) and 9INE (1-2).

As the offered CS:GO betting odds suggest, this is ENCE’s game to lose, and it’s hard to argue with that. Team Liquid are not playing at a high enough level to compete against good teams, and until they start showing some improvement, Liquid are a good fade even when priced as favourites.

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The 2023 Valorant Champions Tour’s season finale is in full swing. The group stage is now behind us and we look forward to the playoffs, with only eight teams remaining.

With a US$2.25 million prize pool and a US$1 million winners cheque up for grabs, every team in attendance will be giving it their all as they seek to become the third VCT Champions winner.

Some of the key leagues and tournaments taking place in the esports world this week include:

• VCT Champions 2023

  The top two teams from each of the four groups have advanced to the VCT Champions playoffs, with Fnatic, LOUD, Paper Rex, FUT Esports, DRX, Bilibili Gaming, EDward Gaming and Evil Geniuses all set to kick off their playoffs campaign on Wednesday and Thursday.

  Most esports betting sites have Fnatic as the $2.10 clear favorites to take out VCT Champions, followed by Paper Rex ($4.00), Evil Geniuses ($6.00), and DRX ($9.00).

  Check out our extensive VCT Champions betting guide to get the latest odds and tournament information.

• Gamers8 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

  The Gamers8 festival will continue this week, with the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament kicking off on Wednesday August 16. The penultimate event of the festival will boast a US$1,000,000 prize pool, with 16 of the worlds best CS:GO teams participating in the five-day event.

  Most esports betting sites have Team Vitality as the $5.00 favorite to take out the Gamers8 CS:GO event, closely followed by ENCE ($5.50), G2 Esports ($5.50), and Heroic ($5.50).

  Check out our extensive Gamers8 CS:GO betting guide to get the latest odds and tournament information.

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The Gamers8 festival is in full swing, and this week the $15 million Dota 2 Riyadh Masters get underway on July 19, with the world’s best Dota 2 teams battling it out for a share of the biggest prize pool on offer at the festival.

The top 20 teams in the world have been invited to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and we expect that the gameplay will be top tier over each of the 11 days of play.

Some of the key leagues and tournaments taking place in the esports world this week include:

• Dota 2 Riyadh Masters

  The Dota 2 professional scene has been dominated by Gaimin Gladiators throughout 2023. With a win at the Riyadh Masters, it would give the Gladiators their sixth straight tournament win going into the final event of the year, The International.

  Most esports betting sites have Gaimin Gladiators as the $3.00 favourite to take out the Riyadh Masters, closely followed by Tundra Esports at $4.00.

  Check out our extensive Riyadh Masters betting guide to get the latest odds and tournament information.

• CS:GO BLAST Premier Fall Groups

  The second week of the BLAST Premier Fall Groups will continue this Monday, as the final group stage matches are completed and the tournament heads into the playoff stage.

  The winners of each group will advance straight into the BLAST Premier Fall Finals, whilst the remaining teams will clash in the playoff bracket to determine the other three teams that will join them and the six that will drop into the Fall Showdown.

  Check out our extensive BLAST Premier Fall Groups betting guide to get the latest odds and tournament information.

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The Counter-Strike team defeated SAW 2-1 in the finals of the European open qualifiers, rounding off the team list in the anticipated Gamers8 2023 tournament.

The $1 million Gamers8 Counter-Strike event will run August 16 to August 20 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

9INE will join teams like Vitality, Heroic, and Fnatic, who won the inaugural European Open qualifier to claim a spot. 9INE faced off against sYnck and Team Spirit on the first day of the qualifiers before advancing to day two and beating out Aurora and 1WIN to move to the grand finals against SAW.

The series started on Ancient, which 9INE won 16-10 before SAW tied 1-1 with a 16-8 victory on Vertigo. 9INE were able to secure a win on Anubis, reaching 10-5 at map half and 16-8 by the end of the map to close the series 2-1.

Besides Gamers8, 9INE are slated to participate in other tier-one LAN events like the Intel Extreme Masters Cologne Play-in later this month. The Hussar Cup is also among their list of upcoming events in addition to an ESL Pro League Season 18 campaign in Group D.

Multiple high-profile CS:GO squads like Astralis and MOUZ failed to secure spots in the Gamers8 event. Astralis were beaten in the RO16, while Ninjas in Pyjamas faced an overtime defeat when facing SAW in the quarter-final stage of the qualifiers.

MOUZ, on their end, were eliminated in the third round of the Gamers8 Europe open qualifiers following a 6-16 loss to 1ADL. Bad News Eagles also failed to secure a place after losing to Sashi 10-16 in the qualifiers.

The list of teams for Gamers8 CS:GO includes:

• Heroic
• G2
• FURIA
• FaZe
• Natus Vincere
• Virtus.pro
• Cloud9
• MIBR
• Apeks
• fnatic
• ENCE
• Liquid
• Falcons
• fnatic
• GamerLegion
• 9INE

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The prize pool for the 2023 Gamers8 event, dubbed ‘The Land of Heroes’, will be the largest in history, surpassing Dota 2’s The International 2021 figure of $40 million.

The Gamers8 prize pool will be spread across a number of esports titles over two weeks of competitive gameplay, and while the 2023 titles have yet to be announced, the 2022 games included Rocket League, Dota 2, Fortnite, Rainbow Six Siege, and PUBG Mobile.

The biggest esports festival in the world returns!
Bigger, better, bolder than ever.
$45,000,000
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
July 6th, 2023#Gamers8 #TheLandofHeroes pic.twitter.com/EkwWvo6pwP

— Gamers8 Esports (@Gamers8GG) March 7, 2023

Despite the fact that the Saudi-owned esports organiser offers exorbitant prize money, it hasn’t stopped teams and other esports organisers from shining a light on the country’s human rights record, particularly in terms of LGBTQ+ and women’s rights, over the years.

Moist Esports, for example, declined an invitation to the 2022 event due to the Saudi government’s human rights record.

However, Saudi Arabia’s interest in esports has not waned, as the government-backed Savvy Gaming Group purchased both ESL Gaming and FACEIT, two of the industry’s most important tournament organisers, for a total of $1.5 billion.

The Saudi Esports Federation Chairman, Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan, spoke about the country’s commitment to developing esports around the world.

“It is our great pleasure to welcome the elite of the esports world to Riyadh once again for Gamers8, the Land of Heroes, where the very best in esports shine and triumph,” he said in a press release.

“Our goal is to serve the global community of esports and gaming enthusiasts, and to eventually develop the global esports ecosystem.”

The Gamers8 event will commence on July 6, with more announcements to come.

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