StarCraft II added to Esports World Cup 2025

The Esports World Cup Foundation has announced that RTS game StarCraft II (SC2) will join the 2025 lineup of this year’s Esports World Cup (EWC).

This marks the return of the game title to the EWC after it was featured last year and at Gamers8 festival, the esports festival’s predecessor.

The StarCraft II tournament will take place between August 15th and August 18th, during the last two weeks of the EWC. Both the tournament format and total prize pool have yet to be announced.

Last year, the StarCraft II Esports World Cup tournament featured 16 players competing in a group stage and knockout stage, with the winner taking $400,000 (~£310,148) of the $1.05m (~£814,139) prize pool. Last year, it was Team Liquid’s player Clément ‘Clem‘ Desplanches who won the tournament, with Finnish and BASILISK player Joona ‘Serral‘ Sotala as the runner up.

With SC2 confirmed, the EWC will feature a total of 25 events across 24 games, three more compared to the previous year. The three additions from this year are Chess, VALORANT, and CrossFire, the latter following a three-year partnership with game developer Smilegate.

Organised by the Esports World Cup Foundation, the EWC is a multi-title esports event that is part of Saudi Arabia’s National Gaming and Esports Strategy as it aims to become a strategic hub for gaming and esports.

The launch of the tournament, alongside Saudi Arabia’s investment in the esports space, has come under fire from the community for so-called ‘esportswashing’, a term re-adapted to the industry to describe the country’s alleged attempt to distract from its human rights records surrounding LGBTQ+ rights and women’s rights.

Earlier this month, the tournament organiser announced the 40 teams taking part in the Esports World Cup Foundation Partner Program, giving organisations ‘six-figure funding’ to expand its existing fan base ahead of the 2025 Esports World Cup and promote sustainability within the industry.