2025 Esports World Cup Sets New Records With Over 750 Million Viewers Worldwide

The 2025 Esports World Cup, organised by the Esports World Cup Foundation, concluded in Riyadh on August 24. This year's event was notable for its record-breaking achievements. Over seven weeks, more than 2,500 players and team members from over 200 teams competed in 25 tournaments across 24 games. Participants represented nearly 100 countries, vying for prizes exceeding $70 million.

Saudi Arabia's Team Falcons secured the Clubs Championship title for the second year in a row. The tournament took place across eight festival venues and four competition halls, covering an area equivalent to nine football stadiums. Boulevard Riyadh City hosted over 3 million visitors who enjoyed a mix of competitions, entertainment, and appearances by global music and sports celebrities.

This year's edition set new viewership records, with more than 750 million people tuning in worldwide. "Mobile Legends: Bang Bang" saw a live viewership increase of 63%, while "Honor of Kings" rose by 82%. The event generated significant digital engagement with over 8 billion impressions and 2 billion views across official channels.

The festival featured over 30 main shows and more than 50 partner-led initiatives. It attracted a strong presence from international content creators, resulting in more than 800,000 pieces of digital content shared by fans, teams, and platforms. Hundreds of thousands attended in person, including around 2,000 members of the Superfan show who travelled specifically to Riyadh.

The tournament garnered unprecedented media attention with over 4,000 outlets publishing more than 30,000 articles globally. Coinciding with the event's conclusion was the New Global Sport Conference (NGSC) 2025. This conference gathered over 1,500 leaders from esports, gaming, sports, technology, and investment sectors. Among them were about 500 chief executives.

During the conference, the Esports World Cup Foundation announced a new initiative: the Esports National Teams Cup. This landmark tournament will see top players representing their countries. The inaugural edition is set to take place in Riyadh in November 2026.

With inputs from SPA