The ESWC was designed by a French team, which since 1999 has been specialising in the organisation of video games tournaments and in the development of technologies linked to network games. An independent private company, initially under the name of “Ligarena” and now known as “Games-Services”, manages the entire ESWC, its licensing rights throughout the world, its financing through sponsorship, its major events and its television broadcasting.

Present in over 50 countries in the form of a national licence, the ESWC relies on a network of strategic partners who all share the same passion and are players in a common adventure: becoming the foremost international electronic sports federation. Each of these national bodies supervises local qualifying rounds and produces an ESWC National Final to determine who will take part in the ESWC Grand Final.

Once a year, “Games-Services” gathers together all of the champions who qualified during the preliminary rounds for an international event named the Grand Final. All the champions are invited to participate free of charge. The ESWC covers their accommodation costs and provides them with all of the IT equipment needed to take part in the competition. This Grand Final is completely open to the public and is designed to entertain, convey the champions’ emotions and present the world of new digital leisure activities to as many people as possible.

Every year, the ESWC attracts a live audience up to 30,000 spectators, and several tens of millions watch via all of the different media providing coverage. The ESWC Grand Final is internationally recognised as the best e-sporting event in the world: it is the most innovative, the most professional, the most in tune with champions and their expectations, the most open to the public and, last but not least, the most entertaining