Garena, a leading global online games developer and publisher, together with the Esports World Cup (EWC) Foundation, announced Free Fire’s participation at the inaugural EWC taking place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia this July. The partnership will see the world’s most downloaded mobile battle royale step into the arena of EWC 2024, leveraging its global presence to offer fans around the world a unique and unprecedented esports experience.

Esports World Cup: Free Fire will feature 18 teams to compete across two stages in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

“Free Fire has been a major force in mobile esports, pushing boundaries and setting records,” said Ralf Reichert, CEO Esports World Cup Foundation. “Our summer event brings together the best games, and Esports World Cup: Free Fire is a natural fit. It is a prestigious competition that shows the power of esports to unite players and fans worldwide. Get ready for an epic battle royale showdown in Riyadh!”

“We are honored to be a part of the widely anticipated first edition of the Esports World Cup. The team is working closely with the EWC Foundation to deliver an unforgettable Free Fire esports experience, and we cannot wait to unveil our plans to our global community, especially our players in the region,” said Harold Teo, Free Fire Producer at Garena.

Held from July 10 to 14, Esports World Cup: Free Fire will witness 18 teams compete for a slice of the US$1,000,000 prize pool. Hailing from five local Free Fire tournaments as well as ESL’s Free Fire Snapdragon Pro Series, these 18 teams will compete in the Knock-out Stage for the first three days, before the best 12 will proceed to the Finals over the next two days.

The winner of the tournament will get the biggest slice of the total prize pool and secure a ticket to compete in Free Fire’s largest tournament of the year: the Free Fire World Series (FFWS) Global Finals 2024 Brazil in November.

Free Fire MEA Road to EWC 2024
The qualification stage for the Esports World Cup: Free Fire will commence with the Free Fire MEA Championship (FFMC) 2024. This tournament will serve as a semi-professional online event open to all players and teams from the region. Taking place twice a year, the FFMC 2024 Spring season will run from 17 February 2024 to 9 March 2024, followed by the FFMC 2024 Summer in the second half of the year.

The winner of FFMC 2024 Spring, along with the other teams in the top 6, will advance to the Free Fire MEA Mid-Season Clash (FF-MSC) 2024 from 9 April to 11 May 2024. Competing in two stages, they will compete against the 12 teams from last year’s Free Fire MEA League (FFML) Season 7, striving to claim the trophy and the largest share of the US$10,000 prize pool.

In addition to securing the cash prize, the winner of FF-MSC 2024 will also earn a spot in the Esports World Cup: Free Fire. They will battle it out against teams from other regions, including Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Brazil.

Launched in 2017, Free Fire is an immersive battle royale game created specifically with mobile gamers in mind. The 2021 edition of its largest annual tournament, FFWS, which was held in Singapore, currently holds the record as the most watched mobile esports tournament in history, having seen 5.4 million peak concurrent viewers . As the first mobile battle royale game to achieve over 1 billion downloads on Google Play, Free Fire is highly popular among players around the world, boasting over 200 million monthly active users .