Multi-title esports festival World Cyber Games (WCG) has announced its return in 2024 alongside the reveal of a full roadmap.
The schedule reveals that the WCG Festival will take place in August 2024 with other tournament activations such as WCG Challenge and WCG Rivals occurring throughout the year.
World Cyber Games might be a name that is familiar to seasoned esports fans, with the event one of the world’s first recognised multi-event esports competition. Since its debut in 2000, WCG has undergone significant changes, notably moving from a ‘competition’ to a ‘festival’ alongside its new owners, Korean esports startup Bigpicture.
Details such as what titles will be present throughout the events or the location of WCG Festival have yet to be revealed. However, this year will see World Cyber Games further its focus on influencers within the space.
Occurring from March to June, WCG Challenge is an online esports tournament featuring influencers that will be held in several countries. Influencers will be representing their respective countries whilst also vying for part of its $100,000 prize pool.
Bigpicture also noted that challenges will be tailored towards each country’s gaming culture and trends. WCG Challenge aims to be contested by major influencers with the most followers from their respective regions.
Following WCG Challenge, influencers will once again represent their countries by competing in WCG Rivals from June to August 2024. Featuring a $120,000 prize pool, the event will feature influencers who were selected from WCG Challenge.
This is not the first time World Cyber Games has operated WCG Rivals. In 2022, WCG Rivals showcased VALORANT, whereas last year there were Rivals match-ups in Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and StarCraft II.
The World Cyber Games roadmap will conclude with the WCG Festival, an offline event that aims to bring together esports fans through LAN tournaments. Further details, such as scheduling, location of all host cities and ticket prices have yet to be revealed. Last year’s WCG 2023 was held in Busan, South Korea.
WCG Director, Kyoung Jun Min commented: “In 2023, we tested influencer-based models and saw great success.
“This year, we hope to provide more content for gamer fans to enjoy, by focusing on influencer content and strengthening entertainment elements rather than just competition.”
On the commercial front, Bigpicture has already begun bolstering its portfolio for WCG 2024. The esports company has named P.Pool from South Korean video game company Smilegate as its official communication service. As a result of the deal, P.Pool will feature mini-games during event team selections and team meetings. Additionally, P.Pool will also be featured at spectator events, online meet and greets, as well as other WCG events.
Bigpicture has also stated that it is looking for more official partners to join ‘WCG 2024’. For further inquiries, please contact the WCG Bigpicture Business Team.
This article is supported by Bigpicture
