The Esports World Cup has been a much-discussed topic, and the inaugural multi-esports event has just kicked off. This is a first-of-its-kind tournament that aims to showcase the top talent of a wide range of game titles and grow the esports industry. Abios looks into the scheduling, teams to follow and betting analytics for top matchups.
This is the first time that an esports event has included 21+ games. The record-breaking prize pool is $60 million. The Esports World Cup will include tournaments, events, activities, and more to keep gamers engaged.
However, there is some controversy surrounding the Esports World Cup. The massive tournament is held in Saudi Arabia, a country with a less-than-stellar human rights record. For this reason, many top organizations, commentators, and other esports talent and professionals have decided to boycott the event and refuse to attend. The massive amount of support and prize money on the line has led many pros to still compete despite this, and we can expect a lot of intense action that showcases the highest level of competitive gaming.
Esports World Cup Betting Analysis
The Esports World Cup will feature 21+ games in total, all sharing a prize pool of astounding $60 million.
Rasmus Schmidt Christensen, Abios’ Head of Odds Operations explains how the esports titles are likely to perform in terms of betting turnover: “When it comes to the Esports World Cup and betting, it’s important to not be blinded by large prize pools when gauging the relative size of each esports title.
Counter-Strike remains the largest title in terms of betting in Western markets. The Esports World Cup will feature the best teams in the world based on the HLTV World Ranking. As such, it will be a must-watch for operators looking to offer markets on the titles driving the most engagement.
At Abios, we will carefully monitor turnover during the event. As a first-of-its-kind tournament, it might cause splash-on effects across esports titles, and it will be interesting to see if it significantly affects turnovers for smaller titles.”
Abios deep-dives into top esports titles to examine the current meta, the state of the esports ecosystem and likely upsets.
Dota 2, featuring Riyadh Masters $ 5 million prize pool
Dates: 4 July – 21 August 2024
Rasmus Schmidt Christensen, Abios’ Head of Odds Operations: “As for Dota 2, Riyadh Masters is a Saudi Arabian annual flagship event that is only second to The International in the yearly Dota 2 tournament circuit. With a $ 5 million prize pool and the best teams in the world in attendance, it will likely be the crown jewel of the event, garnering strong viewership numbers and attendance. With the World Cup being played in the MENA timezone, it will also favour European fans. Perfect for the Europe and CIS-heavy Dota 2 audience. “
League of Legends, A one-of-a-kind non-Riot Games event
Dates: 4-7 July 2024
Abios’ Esports Trading Supervisor Gonçalo Bento shares his expert insights: With their strong performance in the Spring Split and MSI, Gen.G looks poised to dominate the Esports World Cup. We don’t expect the performance split to change much from the MSI, apart from G2, which I expect won’t be able to keep up with the performance from MSI. Staying true to their history, G2 has seen a slow start to their LEC Summer Split. While they might step up for the international competition, I’m not sure they can remedy all issues ahead of The World Cup.
When it comes to trading, we are used to the current state of the game, meta and patches from the regional Summer Splits. Nonetheless, metas typically evolve in each regional league, which can be dispersed in international competition as teams used to different metas come together. This is what makes international League of Legends competitions so special, and we’re, of course, hoping for a similar type of suspense and excitement common for MSI or Worlds, even if it is just a four-day event.
As for League of Legends, the first-of-its kind event might only features seven matches, but is a clash between the best teams from each region, giving fans an ample opportunity to gauge relative strength ahead of the World Championships in fall.
Rasmus Schmidt Christensen, Abios’ Head of Odds Operations
Counter-Strike 2, $ 1 million prize pool of rostermania
Dates: 17-21 July
Pavel Malinovskiy, Abios’ Esports Trading Supervisor and long-time Counter-Strike player, describes the Counter-Strike ahead of the Esports World Cup: “Being played in the middle of the Counter-Strike summer break, the Esports World Cup is in the middle of rostermania. There are new lineups among teams, and players are back from vacation with limited time to practice. As such, the tournament is poised for engaging upsets and unexpected twists, making it interesting from a betting perspective.
As for team performance, there isn’t any huge news from any team. NAVI, Team Spirit, FaZe Clan, and other high performers still have a roster that is very similar to before. Of course, we see the big underdog in Sashi. They play on a different level than the other teams, so it will be interesting to see their performance in the big leagues. Though it isn’t too likely, we’ve seen underdogs being able to score Cinderella story victories in the past. “
Dates
The EWC will take place from July 3 to August 25, 2024. This means there will be eight weeks of esports action to watch, whether you’re attending the event or watching the livestreams.
Schedule
The matches will take place in a 645,000-square-foot venue in Saudi Arabia that has four separate esports arenas. Here is the full schedule:
| Week 1 | League of Legends | ML: BB | CoD: Warzone | DOTA 2 |
| Week 2 | DOTA 2 | ML: BB | Free Fire | |
| Week 3 | DOTA 2 | Counter-Strike 2 | PUBG Mobile | |
| Week 4 | Overwatch 2 | ML: BB | PUBG Mobile | |
| Week 5 | Rainbow 6 | Honor of Kings | Apex Legends | |
| Week 6 | Street Fighter 6 | Fortnite | Teamfight Tactics | |
| Week 7 | EA Sports FC 24 | CoD: MW3 | Starcraft II | |
| Week 8 | Rocket League | TEKKEN 8 | PUBG Battlegrounds | ESL R1 |
Esports Orgs Attending the Esports World Cup
Here are some of the teams to watch ahead of the Esports World Cup.
- Fluxo (Free Fire)
- Team Spirit (CS2)
- Natus Vincere (CS2)
- FaZe Clan (CS2)
- FURIA Esports (CS2)
- G2 Esports (CS2)
- Team Vitality (CS2)
- Virtus.Pro (CS2)
How to Watch the Esports World Cup
The tournament can be watched from the official Esports World Cup YouTube page. In the lead-up to the event, check out the EWC official website and social media channels for more updates on upcoming tournaments and where to watch them.
Esports data, odds and visualisations
Looking for up-to-date and accurate predictions for upcoming esports events? With more than 10 years of experience in esports, Abios provides a data-driven odds feed for popular esports titles, such as CS2, League of Legends, VALORANT and Dota 2, to sportsbooks looking to take their esports offering to the next level. Read more here.
