The Esports World Cup, a large-scale esports tournament organised by the Esports World Cup Foundation, has announced the addition of two new games: Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 and Call of Duty Warzone.
The two final additions to the EWC take its number of games to 21. The Warzone tournament will feature a $1m (~£780,000 ) prize pool and the MW3 tournament will have a $1.8m (~£1.40m ) pool.
The Esports World Cup is set to commence soon in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. The event is the largest-ever esports event to take place and replaces Gamers8 as the country’s flagship esports festival. The total prize pool for the tournament will amount to more than $60m (~£47.1m) and the event will last for almost two whole months.
According to the Esports World Cup’s organisers, the two Call of Duty games are the final additions to the event, with the number of competitions coming to 22. The competition will include almost every notable esports game today, ranging from Dota 2 and League of Legends to Counter-Strike, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Apex Legends, Fortnite, PUBG, Rocket League and more.
The Warzone competition will feature 21 teams, while the MW3 competition will have 16 total teams. As with other games, results in the newly-announced titles contribute points to the Esports World Cup Club Championship, which will feature a $20m (~£15.9m) prize pool on top of each game’s pool.
The event has seen criticism from stakeholders in the industry as a way for the country to use esports in an effort to improve its public image, a practice called ‘esportswashing’. Saudi Arabia’s stance on LGBTQ+ rights and its human rights record has long been criticised by many in the esports industry. The Esports Awards, the esports industry’s largest awards show, has recently partnered with the Esports World Cup, prompting some in the awards selection panel, such as PGL’s CEO Silviu Stroie, to quit.
