Saudi Arabia's Esports World Cup set new global records this year as the $70million summer gaming showdown - the biggest event in esports - drew immense audience figures from around the world.

Seven weeks of elite competition across 25 tournaments and 24 different gaming titles saw more than 2,500 players and team staff descend on Riyadh to compete for a share of the festival's mega-prize pool.

Held across eight festival venues and four arenas - together covering the equivalent of nine soccer pitches - EWC 2025 attracted huge global attention, drawing more than three million visitors to Riyadh Boulevard City to witness elite-level gaming, world-class musicians, and big-name athletes and content creators.

EWC 2025 attracted huge global attention, drawing more than three million visitors to Riyadh Boulevard City to witness elite-level gaming, world-class musicians, and big-name athletes and content creators (image: EWC)
The event hosted 25 tournaments across 24 different gaming titles, welcoming more than 2,500 players and team staff to Riyadh (image: EWC)

EWC broadcasts reached 750 million viewers around the world, with its Boulevard City arenas regularly sold out, welcoming hundreds of thousands of fans including 2,000 from the Super Fans Program, all of whom travelled to Riyadh to cheer on their favourite teams.

Attracting global attention, tournament viewership increased exponentially year-on-year, seeing a 63% increase in live viewership for Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, and a 182% increase in live viewership for Honor of Kings, making EWC 2025 the most watched edition to date.

EWC25's popular Content Creator Park hosted more than 30 main stage, headline shows, with more than 50 partners delivering activations and experiences that generated 8 billion impressions and 2 billion video views across EWC channels. Activations from the Content Creators Park featured in more than 800,000 pieces of content shared by fans, teams and the EWC social channels - a new event record.

EWC broadcasts reached 750 million viewers around the world, with its Boulevard City arenas regularly sold out (image: EWC)
Its popular Content Creator Park hosted more than 30 main stage, headline shows, with more than 50 partners delivering activations and experiences that generated 8 billion impressions and 2 billion video views across EWC channels (image: EWC)

Global media interest was also unprecedented, with more than 4,000 outlets covering the action and publishing more than 30,000 articles worldwide.

Taking place during the closing weekend of the Esports World Cup 2025, the New Global Sport Conference 2025 (NGSC 2025) gathered more than 1,500 delegates, including 500 CEOs from gaming, esports, sport, technology and investment.

During NGSC 2025, the Esports World Cup Foundation announced the Esports Nations Cup, a landmark tournament where the best esports players in the world will compete for the honor of representing their countries.

The inaugural edition will take place in Riyadh, in November 2026.