Sony Becomes Founding Partner of Esports World Cup

[Fenton]

The Esports World Cup Foundation (“EWCF”) and Sony Group Corporation (“Sony”) have signed a multi-year partnership agreement to collaborate on initiatives for the Esports World Cup. The collaboration leverages Sony’s acclaimed gaming products and entertainment expertise alongside the EWC’s vision to unite the global gaming and esports communities across the most popular games, and underscores a shared ambition to broaden the appeal of gaming and esports to players and fans worldwide. The inaugural Esports World Cup 2024 is slated to take place this summer in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

As part of this agreement, Sony Pictures Entertainment will create a behind-the-scenes documentary series showcasing the players and games of the Esports World Cup. Sony, together with Sony Interactive Entertainment, will also look to exploring additional opportunities to support promising creators and talent in the region. Sony Music Entertainment will produce the music Anthem of the Esports World Cup 2024

Sony Group Becomes Founding Partner of Esports World Cup

Multi-year collaboration will produce the Anthem and original documentary series of Esports World Cup 2024 The Esports World Cup Foundation (“EWCF”) and Sony Group Corporation (“Sony”) have signed a multi-year partnership agreement to collaborate on initiatives for the Esports World Cup. The...

europeangaming.eu

 

[Neversummer]

Sony needs to buy multiple fighting studios to make some staple fighting games that appears on EVO they invest a bunch of money into esports but don’t have a studio to make content for.

I’ll take a The Boys fighting game something inline w MK or a Demon Slayer 2.5D fighter from Arc system work.

 

[Nhomnhom]

Sony has awful timing with esports.

 

[Yurinka]

Sony will be targeted by partnering something related with Saudi Arabia.

 

[Wing84]

Sony should schedule their PlayStation Showcases to be near EVO + whatever this leads to. Ideally through June to July.

 

[BLAZE]

Sony is one of the few companies capable of acquiring the rights to FIFA, but I don't know if any of its studios are capable of handling the IP

 

[Wing84]

Sony is one of the few companies capable of acquiring the rights to FIFA, but I don't know if any of its studios are capable of handling the IP

FIFA is a casino-esque brand at this point. I'd not want to see any respectful publisher to slide down that path.

 

[Yurinka]

As part of this agreement, Sony Pictures Entertainment will create a behind-the-scenes documentary series showcasing the players and games of the Esports World Cup. Sony, together with Sony Interactive Entertainment, will also look to explore additional opportunities to support promising creators and talent in the region. Sony Music Entertainment will produce the music Anthem of the Esports World Cup 2024.

Speaking about the partnership, Ralf Reichert, CEO of Esports World Cup Foundation, said: “Sony is the perfect partner for the Esports World Cup. Our goal is to establish a global platform for esports and gaming that sets new standards for live esports events. Sony’s experience in creating stunning visuals, engaging music, compelling storytelling, and state-of-the-art technology will be a game-changer for the Esports World Cup. The EWC aims to take esports to the next level, and we are thrilled to count on Sony’s world-class expertise in this endeavor.”

Toshimoto Mitomo, Executive Deputy President and CSO of Sony Group Corporation, added: “We’re excited to make the Esports World Cup more fun and engaging for fans globally by harnessing the creativity and technology from across our diverse businesses. Sony has been enhancing the esports experience especially with Sony Interactive Entertainment’s initiatives such as PlayStation Tournaments and the annual EVO fighting game series. We look forward to further catering to this growing, global community of players and fans with the Esports World Cup.”

With the Esports World Cup, EWCF has created a celebration of competitive gaming and esports fandom. This summer, top esports organisations will face off in Riyadh, to compete in a unique cross-game structure for the largest prize pool in esports history. Recently, the EWC has announced the addition of 10 popular titles – Dota 2, Counter-Strike 2, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Honor of Kings, PUBG, PUBG Mobile, Overwatch, Free Fire, Fortnite, and Rainbow Six Siege – as participating games. More games will be announced soon.

https://www.broadcastprome.com/news/sony-group-becomes-founding-partner-of-esports-world-cup/

P.S.: A few days ago it was also announced that Street Fighter 6 will be one of the Esports World Cup games.

 

[Yurinka]

I think some people won't be happy about it

 

[Zzero]

compete in a unique cross-game structure

Absolute cringe.

 

[Fenton]

Old

Sony Becomes Founding Partner of Esports World Cup

The Esports World Cup Foundation (“EWCF”) and Sony Group Corporation (“Sony”) have signed a multi-year partnership agreement to collaborate on initiatives for the Esports World Cup. The collaboration leverages Sony’s acclaimed gaming products and entertainment expertise alongside the EWC’s...

icon-era.com

 

[Evilnemesis8]

Absolute cringe.

What do you mean by this?

 

[Zzero]

What do you mean by this?

Its not a real competition if it involves multiple games. You wouldn't put baseball in a basketball competition. The idea that "esports" is one thing is totally ridiculous, its as wide in variety as real sports.

Edit: Also, this thing is four months from now and they haven't even finalized the games list yet, so yeah, cringe.

 

[Evilnemesis8]

Its not a real competition if it involves multiple games. You wouldn't put baseball in a basketball competition. The idea that "esports" is one thing is totally ridiculous, its as wide in variety as real sports.

Since when?

I guess this also means DreamHack/Intel Extreme Masters and other multi game events that have been there since forever have been fake events. Goddamn I was bamboozled by those fake competitions, who were those bums I watched duke it out over the years?

Edit: Also, this thing is four months from now and they haven't even finalized the games list yet, so yeah, cringe.

This I agree, although the main issue why players would really dislike that is largely irrelevant because their visa application is not going to get denied because it's a country that is organizing this whole thing.

 

[AllBizness]

Sony will be targeted by partnering something related with Saudi Arabia.

Japan is rooting for Brics to succeed I'd imagine they are sick of being oppressed by the West. Sony could care less if people are upset about this.

 

[Evilnemesis8]

Japan is rooting for Brics to succeed I'd imagine they are sick of being oppressed by the West. Sony could care less if people are upset about this.

The whole esports industry is happy because the Saudis are sportswashing here.
They're burning through millions and millions and esports teams in general are happy to go because Venture Capital money is gone and sponsors have generally cut their marketing budgets. This double punch has caused "Esports winter" with a lot of organizations heavily downsizing or calling it quits in the last 2~ years. Even game publishers offloading the cost of running some events to them is also saving them money.

Of course I don't expect that to continue long and it simply a bandaid fix for many leagues and games that are not running a profitable sports venture.

 

[Zzero]

Japan is rooting for Brics to succeed I'd imagine they are sick of being oppressed by the West. Sony could care less if people are upset about this.

In geopolitics Japan and China have a purely antagonistic relationship and relations with the west are closer than ever, try again.

I guess this also means DreamHack/Intel Extreme Masters and other multi game events that have been there since forever have been fake events. Goddamn I was bamboozled by those fake competitions, who were those bums I watched duke it out over the years?

Maybe the name World Cup has me fooled but they are going to be keeping track across different points and awarding some sort of overall champion at the end, right? But they can't really do it by country since thats not how e-sports are set up so its going to be by different companies? That sounds ridiculous on the face of it. But the alternative, that some random nothing-organization that hasn't even hosted any events is calling itself the World Cup and moneyhatting partnerships with major companies to sponsor events in areas that don't give a fuck about console/pc gaming is perhaps even worse.

 

[Yurinka]

Japan is rooting for Brics to succeed I'd imagine they are sick of being oppressed by the West. Sony could care less if people are upset about this.

Japan is a hostage of USA, just like Europe. They will be slowly forced to cut ties with BRICS, as it's happening with EU.

 

[Evilnemesis8]

Maybe the name World Cup has me fooled but they are going to be keeping track across different points and awarding some sort of overall champion at the end, right? But they can't really do it by country since thats not how e-sports are set up so its going to be by different companies? That sounds ridiculous on the face of it. But the alternative, that some random nothing-organization that hasn't even hosted any events is calling itself the World Cup and moneyhatting partnerships with major companies to sponsor events in areas that don't give a fuck about console/pc gaming is perhaps even worse.

Esports World Cup | FAQs

Esports World Cup Frequently Asked Questions - FAQs

esportsworldcup.com

The cross-game prize pool is going to be awarded to the best performing esports orgs that perform across the games.
I can tell you that big orgs like Team Liquid and co. are loving that shit. Many of them are signing players in esports they have historically never been a part of in preparation for this.