ESWC
Electronic Sports World Cup
The Electronic Sports World Cup is an international professional gaming championship. Every year winners of national qualifier event around the world earn the right to represent their country in the ESWC Finals. The event has won a lot of praise for its organisation and ability to put on a good show for spectators.
The ESWC was originally created by a French company called Ligarena who previously hosted smaller LAN events in France under the name of LAN Arena. In 2003 Ligarena decided to do something on a larger scale and the ESWC was born. In 2005, Ligarena became Games-Services. In 2009, ESWC is bought by another French company called Games-Solution who became the owner of the brand.
The grand finals and masters of ESWC have had a total prize purse of 1,721,000 € from 2003 till 2010.
Events
ESWC 2003
The 2003 ESWC saw around 150,000 players narrowed down to just 358 players from 37 different countries who would attend the finals at the Futuroscope near Poitiers in France. The total prize fund for the event was € 156,000.
ESWC 2004
The 2004 finals were once again held at the Futuroscope, roughly 400 finalists from 41 countries attended to compete for a €210,000 prize purse.
ESWC 2005
In 2005 the venue was moved to a larger place: The Carrousel du Louvre in Paris. The total prize payout was again raised this time to 300,000 euros.
ESWC 2006
The event took place at Palais omnisports de Paris-Bercy and the total payout this time was around 300,000 euros.
ESWC 2007
The ESWC 2007 took place at Paris expo Porte de Versailles, Paris, from July 5 to July 8. There was a complete expo for this event, called "Mondial du Gaming".
Games featured were Counter-Strike, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, Quake 4, Counter-Strike Female, Pro Evolution Soccer 6 and Trackmania Nations. 750 finalists attended from 51 countries which competed for a prize purse of USD 180,000$
ESWC 2008
The 2008 Electronic Sports World Cup took place in San Jose, California, USA, from August 25 to August 27 during the bigger NVISION 08 event, moving the tournament away from France for the first time. The disciplines announced were Counter-Strike (open and female), Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, Trackmania Nations Forever, Defense of the Ancients and Quake 3. Pro Evolution Soccer was not included because the global Konami authority hasn't given its support to the competition. The prize purse was around 200,000 USD.
ESWC 2008 Masters of Paris
Paris wasn't abandoned for the ESWC. In place of the ESWC, there was the Masters of Paris, during the Mondial du Gaming from July 4 to July 6 and took place at the Palais omnisports de Paris-Bercy. The same disciplines took place during this Masters offered additional qualificative slots for ESWC Grand Final in San Jose. All winners won a slot to participate in the ESWC Grand Final and hotel accommodation for San Jose, free of charge.
ESWC 2009
Venue: Cheonan, South Korea
Prize: 54.000 €
Date: 2–6 May 2009
ESWC 2010
The results of the 2010 Electronic Sports World Cup which took place at Disneyland Paris featuring a €213,500 prize purse {Game Solution(or DIP-Organisation) took over the ESWC At 2010}.
ESWC 2011
The finals for the 2011 season took place in Paris, France from October 21 to October 25. The event marked the transitional replacement and additions of several cornerstone tournament titles. This included the replacement of Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne with StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, as well as the replacement of Defense of the Ancients with Dota 2. Additionally, this marked the first year in which Counter-Strike: Source was present.
