The Esports World Cup has yet to pay multiple players, production workers, and on-screen talent a variety of sums of money owed from price pools, for services, and salaries from the 2024 edition of the event, Esports.net can report.
Multiple sources, speaking to Esports.net on the condition of anonymity, highlighted at least four games in which production staff, teams, players, and talent had received incomplete or no payment. Apex Legends, Mobile Legends Bang Bang, Tekken, and PUBG Mobile are among the games which sources have stated payment has not been forthcoming.
Image Credit: Esports World Cup
Staff and Players Claim EWC Hasn’t Paid Prize Money or Invoices
The 2024 Esports World Cup was a multi-discipline international esports event held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia between July 3 and August 25. The event featured 22 different esports titles, and was managed and run by Esports World Cup Foundation, a non-profit organization funded by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), along with other PIF subsidiaries including SAVVY Games Group.
With state backing, and a combined prize pool of over $60 million dollars across all 23 individual events, it was heralded as the largest and most important esports event in history. However, at the time of writing, multiple sources have come forward to say that almost six months later, payment for multiple games has not been made.
These payments include prize payouts, invoices for production staff and talent, payments for social media posts, and other services. While Esports.net was unable to verify an exact total figure, the amounts owed to individuals range from several thousand to six-figure sums. Given these amounts include prize payouts, the overall amount could potentially be millions.
Image Credit: EA
Multiple Games Affected by EWC Non-Payment
Apex Legends was one prominent game highlighted as missing payments. The EA battle-royale featured title a $2 million dollar prize pool, with every single one of the 40 teams earning some chunk of that. Esports.net was able to confirm that multiple players and teams are awaiting prize money.
Mobile Legends Bang Bang had a reported prize pool of $3 million dollars, with the winner taking home a third of the total. Prize amounts for multiple teams are reportedly missing, as well as payments for staff and teams. Multiple sources intimated that Moonton, the publisher of MLBB had put pressure on teams and staff to not speak out about missing payments.
Esports.net was told by sources within the PUBG Mobile and Tekken scenes that payments for the 2024 Esports World Cup were not forthcoming.
EWC’s Prize Pool was over 60 million dollars. Allegedly not all of that money has reached its winners. Image Credit: Esports World Cup
Sources were also able to confirm that payment issues were not consistent among all games. Several games have reportedly received partial or full payment. The feeling among those was affected that more ‘important’ games, with larger and more vocal communities and scenes, were prioritized in payment. Similarly, higher profile teams and talents were allegedly paid quicker.
Affected parties also suggested that blame for payment issues was spread across the Esports World Cup Foundation, Savvy Games Group, and ESL FACEIT Group. EFG, a subsidiary of PIF-backed Savvy Games Group, has gone on to run tournaments, pay contractors, and prize pools, post-EWC. Contractors with experience working for EFG highlighted a culture of delayed payment, requests for updates were often met with silence or delayed replies.
As is common with non-payment in esports, several sources requested anonymity due to fears that it would affect their ability to find work in the future. Despite a lack of payment, many still hoped to find work in 2025’s edition of the EWC. Some sources pointed to the fact they had no choice but to work with the EWC if they wished to continue working in esports.
Image Credit: Team Falcons
EWC Comments on Missing Payments
Esports.net reached out to the EWC Foundation for comment on the allegations of non-payment. The EWC Foundation provided the following statement:
“Over 99% of the payments have already been paid, including $60m of the total prize pool for over 400 participating teams in various jurisdictions and financial systems. We are working with all involved parties to finalize the remaining transactions as quickly as possible, but while the overwhelming majority of payments have been processed, minor delays can occasionally occur due to bank processing times, administrative checks, or recipient verification. The Esports World Cup remains fully committed to ensuring all payments to our talent, production partners, Clubs and players are completed, as we continue to support the growth of the esports ecosystem globally and work towards its long-term sustainability.” – Statement on behalf of the Esports World Cup Foundation
Esports.net returned to its sources with this statement. Several sources were able to confirm that payments were now forthcoming. Unfortunately, others have reported that they have yet to receive response, or have received information about a payment timeline, but no payment.
With 25 titles set for the 2025 edition of the Esports World Cup , and an expected return of the multi-million dollar prize pools, thousands of job opportunities, and the promise of partner team status, the allure of the Saudi-backed event is perhaps too much to ignore.
When combined with its qualifiers and total event time, the EWC monopolizes almost a quarter of the entire esports calendar. However, while the EWC is sometimes seen as a financial saviour of the esports scene, this delayed payment seem to highlight that while the promise of Saudi money is there, the reality may be very different.
As mentioned, the Esports World Cup is managed by the EWC Foundation, and funded by the KSA’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, which contains an estimated trillion dollars in assets. The event itself is operated and organized by ESL FACEIT Group, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabian and PIF-backed esports company, the SAVVY Games Group.
The Esports World Cup is notoriously part of Saudi Vision 2030, a plan by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to diversify the country’s wealth outside of oil production. As such, the event is often criticized as an attempt at ‘sports washing,’ the act of obfuscating the KSA’s abysmal record in human rights abuses using high profile sporting events and mega building projects.