Call of Duty set to be inducted into Esports World Cup with $3 million prize pool

The Esports World Cup is fast approaching, as the first-of-its-kind festival for competitive gaming is set to take place throughout the summer.

Backed by the Saudi Arabian government and endorsed by Saudi-backed Savvy Gaming Group, the Esports World Cup will succeed the controversial Gamers8 programme. Over 20 games will compete for a total of $60 million.

Having already seen sign-ups for games like League of Legends for the first time this year, Call of Duty could be about to follow suit.

Call of Duty leaks suggest Esports World Cup entrance is on the cards 

As pointed out by Dexerto journalist Jacob Hale, the Esports World Cup website uploaded a string of HTMLs that directly refer to both Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone, before they were deleted.

Hale states that the HTML cited a total of $2.8 million in prize money across both titles, with Warzone's event coming on July 3 and MW3's coming after the World Championships on August 15.

Interestingly, the schedule for the Esports World Cup (via the official website) shows "TBA" placeholders in these gaps, aligning almost perfectly.

The reported split should see $1.8 million be set aside for Modern Warfare 3 and the Call of Duty League teams, while a further $1 million will be weighted towards Warzone.

Esports World Cup could mark Call of Duty's first Saudi-backed tournament

Click to enlarge

So far, Call of Duty is yet to be inducted into any of the Saudi Arabian esports festivals, having missed out on being included in either iteration of the Gamers8 circuits in Riyadh.

Activision does have a relationship with the tournament, though. It has already announced that the Overwatch Championship Series (the post-franchising system) will serve as a qualification method for the Overwatch branch of the Esports World Cup 2024, while the previous Gamers8 tournaments hosted smaller community cups.

Call of Duty's new entrance would also mark the first time Activision has allowed a third-party event worth over $100,000 since the CDL was formed in 2019.

A new tournament outside of the CDL and WSOW would be welcome for the Call of Duty player base, although the Esports World Cup continues to be a divisive event among fans.