Overview

• The biennial Esports Nations Cup will stage its first event in Riyadh in November 2026 with national teams rather than club rosters.
• Electronic Arts, Krafton, Tencent and Ubisoft are partnering on game selection and formats, with publishers using in‑game data to identify top players and help appoint national coaches.
• CEO Ralf Reichert said the prize pool is planned to be comparable to the Esports World Cup’s $70 million second‑edition purse.
• Organizers position the event as complementary to clubs and say they are working on incentives, roster caps and calendar alignment, though detailed mechanisms have not yet been disclosed.
• The Saudi‑backed initiative is tied to the kingdom’s Vision 2030 strategy and faces ‘sportswashing’ criticism, and it is presented as separate from the IOC‑backed Olympic Esports Games in Riyadh in 2027.