The Microsoft Excel World Championship 2024, the largest esports event for Microsoft Excel, an office spreadsheet software, will take place on December 3rd in Las Vegas.
The event, which features a $60,000 (£47,480) prize pool, will be held at the HyperX Arena Las Vegas from December 3rd-4th, and features competitors from across the world.
Known for being a staple of office work worldwide, Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet editing software, part of the Microsoft Office suite of programs. The programme was released in 1987 and is used by millions of people daily. In addition to being a known piece of office software, Excel’s capabilities have made it an unlikely esports title.
The Financial Modeling World Cup, the organisation that created the Excel World Championship, has created a set of competitive rules for Excel enthusiasts that serve to showcase fast thinking and mechanical skills. The 2024 season had a total of 10 rounds of qualification and online playoff rounds which will culminate in the HyperX Arena, known for hosting numerous esports and gaming events in the past. A total of 40 players will compete during the two-day-long event.
The event was first held in 2021 as the FMWC Open and was rebranded to the MS Excel World Championship in 2023. The organisers also host a collegiate event called the Microsoft Excel Collegiate Challenge.
According to its organisers, the event will “challenge finalists with tasks designed to evaluate their knowledge in leveraging Excel techniques to solve complex, out-of-the-box scenarios.”
Contestants are required to solve challenges and score points depending on the complexity of the challenge. These range from financial modelling to data modelling and strategic tasks, mostly with large sets of data that needs to be understood and analysed quickly.
