The World Cyber Games return with a modern feel and approach to esports

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The World Cyber Games is a prestigious name that was a highly formative tournament organiser for esports as an industry. The organiser hosted their inaugural event in 2000 and despite multiple setbacks and fundamental changes to the organisation, it's still going strong and still hosting fantastic esports events: their most recent event in July of this year drew in 112K peak concurrent viewers. However, if you’re a newer esports fan — or just young — you probably don’t recognise the WCG brand. Why not? With 23 years of history to explore, here you’ll find your answer.

History of WCG in esports

World Cyber Games were formed in 2000 and aimed to mix competitive gaming with the feel of a traditional sporting event. Players from all around the world competed for gold, silver, and bronze medals in various games. Critically for the brand’s early success, they were supported and sponsored by both Samsung and Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism: whose Minister Park Jie-won is credited with coining the term “esports” in 2000.

Following the inaugural event, WCG held yearly events that continued to grow in attendance and prize pool. By 2004 they hosted their first tournament outside Asia in San Francisco, where over 600 participants from 63 countries attended the event. These events showcased historical esports titles, like Age of Empires II, Quake III Arena, Halo, StarCraft: Brood War, and more. 

However, coming into the 2010s, momentum slowed down for the organiser. Their prize pools and attendees had started to dwindle and by 2014, WCG announced that they were cancelling all events for the year and closing the organisation.

The World Cyber Games 2004 event in San Francisco, via Peter Kaminski

Despite the momentum dying down for the event organiser in the 2010s, others were quick to recognise the potential the World Cyber Games name still holds. The organisation is now under the South Korean company Bigpicture Interactive: a start-up focusing on esports services like coaching academies and other gaming industries, such as the Internet Cafe market in Korea. Bigpicture has its own experience organising live esports tournaments directly with game publishers, which might be important for the WCG.

WCG’s future and 2023 return

Esports has evolved since the early days of the 2000s. Esports is no longer a niche industry supported by volunteer-powered events and community tournaments. Game publishers want, and perhaps need, to be involved in the esports sphere of their games and they want to have a say in how it all is handled. An early example of publishers supporting their esports communities is Valve: which has poured millions of dollars into the prize pools for its various titles. For a more modern approach, consider Riot Games and their official franchised leagues for Valorant. 

These official events are usually the biggest events in their respective discipline, and this is where WCG has to catch up. WCG is no longer in the world of esports where a community-organised event can receive hundreds of the best players from all around the world. Events cannot simply be approached as tournaments, as you need to compete with the officially branded events sponsored by the game developers. This is where Bigpicture Interactive comes into play for the WCG.

WCG has turned its focus away from the most famous and popular esports titles of the year. Events are no longer dominated by the biggest triple-a games in the region but are carefully constructed as content for attendees and stream viewers to enjoy. The most recent WCG event focused heavily on community outreach and influencer events, such as show matches and various meet and greets. WCG has also started its own Rivals series: an event series that features teams made up of community members and focuses on content rather than competition. 

Finally, the most recent 2023 WCG event moved away from the titles the series has become known for: Dota 2, Crossfire, and Warcraft. WCG is truly modernising itself and stepping into the ever-growing sphere of mobile gaming esports. At the WCG 2023, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and Clash Royale were the poster games of the event. Mobile esports feature some of the biggest events, prize pools, and markets in esports at the moment, so it seems to be a logical decision for WCG to pivot into this industry upon return.

Viewership statistics for the recent WCG 2023 ML:BB and Clash Royale events

The ML:BB event received 112.9K Peak Viewers on the final day of the event, and during less than 10 hours of watch time the event garnered 297K hours of watch time. Although this event cannot compare to the official ML:BB tournament leagues which receive tens of millions of hours of watch time, the viewership is quite good for an independent third-party league. Of all the ML:BB tournaments that have taken place in 2023 so far, the WCG event is one of the biggest events of the year that wasn’t sponsored directly by the game’s publishers.

The World Cyber Games was a benchmark and role model for esports organisers in the early 2000s, and their events were some of the largest and most popular tournaments in esports. Despite a rocky history throughout the last decade, the event organiser is back on their feet. With the support of Bigpicture Interactive behind them, they have completely overhauled and modernised their approach to events and how to draw in viewership. WCG has embraced the modern esports trend of content creation and creating not only spectacular esports events but cultivating a passionate community to enjoy them. Stay up to date with WCG’s events and viewership data on their series page.