Esports Nations Cup Draws Attention After Olympic Esports Plans Collapse
The ENC fills the void left by the shelved Olympic Esports Games, offering a country-vs-country format that the IOC could not deliver due to publisher rights and content restrictions.
Reporting from 1 sources: Automaton.
The Esports Nations Cup, a cross-title country-vs-country tournament in Riyadh this November, is gaining focus after the IOC and Saudi Arabia ended their partnership for the Olympic Esports Games in 2025. Major publishers including Electronic Arts, Krafton, Tencent, and Ubisoft have signed on. Esports caster Yamano Tomozo discusses the event's potential to boost esports popularity.
The Esports Nations Cup (ENC) is set for November in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as a cross-title country-vs-country competition. Major publishers Electronic Arts, Krafton, Tencent, and Ubisoft have announced participation. The event comes after the International Olympic Committee and the Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee ended their partnership on the Olympic Esports Games in October 2025, dissolving a 12-year contract after just one year. The ENC includes FPS titles like Counter-Strike 2 and VALORANT, genres the IOC had excluded over violence concerns. Esports caster Yamano Tomozo sees the ENC as a potential catalyst for esports growth.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.