So far, the Esports World Cup 2024 has left a significant impression, at least on the League of Legends community. First is the extremely convincing victory of T1, and a series of powerful teams like Gen.G and Bilibili Gaming being eliminated early. Next is the prize pool of the tournament. According to previously mentioned information, T1 has received $400,000 in prize money for the championship. This amount is higher than the MSI championship and only $45,000 less than the Worlds (the prize for the 2023 Worlds championship is $445,000). However, this may no longer be accurate.
According to a source from LPL, known for revealing internal information from teams in the region, the EWC 2024 prize pool may be increased by an additional $1 million. If this is true, T1’s total prize money could increase by about $125,000, bringing the total prize money that Faker and his teammates receive to about $525,000, making EWC 2024 the tournament with the highest total prize pool in the League of Legends scene in 2024.
In fact, in recent years, Saudi Arabia has been investing heavily in Esports. Notably, Nigma Galaxy – a well-known organization in the Esports scene also belongs to the UAE (United Arab Emirates). EWC 2024 is the first major Esports event held in Saudi Arabia, and the success of this tournament may promise even more substantial investments in the future. Moreover, this region has a strong financial foundation, which can potentially allow EWC to develop into a major tournament within Riot’s system in the future.
If the information about the prize money is true, it can be said that Saudi Arabia is striving to develop EWC in the best way possible. And of course, in this context, Esports teams are the direct beneficiaries. Next are the audiences, who may soon have a professional and highly specialized platform that will be developed for the long term in the near future.