The Esports World Cup is once more set to return in 2025
Fans will be able to follow a major new entry in the event with Free Fire set to return
Team Falcons dominated the previous entry in the hotly-anticipated esports event
After finishing up earlier this year, the 2024 Esports World Cup seems to have been a resounding success, especially if you take into account the fact that a successor event has already been planned. And the latest game to carve out a niche for itself in 2025 is none other than Garena's Free Fire!
You'll likely remember that 2024's Esport World Cup: Free Fire Champions saw Team Falcon take home the gold. Their win also netted them an invite to the Free Fire World Series Global Finals in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil that year.
Free Fire will join fellow hit mobile multiplayer Honor of Kings in returning to Riyadh for another entry in the event, which was a spin-off of the Gamers8 tournament. Saudi Arabia has made major investments with hopes to turn the country into a major attraction for esports players the world over, with the Esports World Cup boasting huge prizes and more.
The significant investment poured into the Esports World Cup is readily apparent from the impressive production values evident in nearly all event coverage. Little wonder then that Free Fire and others are keen to return to Riyadh for another opportunity to showcase their esports athletes' skills on the global stage.
For the rest of us, naturally, the success of another iteration remains uncertain, and whether the novelty will fade. One cannot criticize the event's lavishness and splendor; however, the fact that the highly-anticipated World Cup tournaments still take a backseat to other global esports events for these releases does suggest a somewhat secondary status overall.
Still, it's a considerable improvement from the cancellation of the Free Fire World series in 2021 during the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic.
