Post Malone performed, Cristiano Ronaldo handed out the trophy, and Magnus Carlsen showed up to play chess. It may sound like a fever dream, but it was just the 2025 Esports World Cup — and Prime Video filmed the whole thing.
Season 2 of Esports World Cup: Level Up drops Friday, June 26, with all five episodes arriving at once. Directed by Emmy winner R.J. Cutler, the series goes inside the pressure, rivalries and absurd stakes surrounding the seven-week showdown in Riyadh, where players from more than 100 countries competed for a share of $70 million.
Millions were watching, too. According to the Esports World Cup Foundation, last year's event reached 750 million viewers worldwide. The prize pool, meanwhile, was larger than the combined purse of every esports tournament held in 2019.
Money like that has a way of attracting a crowd.
Formula 1 champ Lando Norris, skateboarding icon Tony Hawk, tennis pro Nick Kyrgios and Brazilian soccer legends Ronaldo Nazário and Kaká were among the familiar faces who stopped by. The music side was just as stacked, with Swedish DJ Alesso, SEVENTEEN's Dino and even cellist Tina Guo taking the stage.
But the star power only tells part of the story. Much of the season follows the race for the Club Championship, where Team Falcons, Team Liquid and Team Vitality battle for bragging rights and life-changing money. That race is the hook, but the people inside it are the point. As Ralf Reichert, CEO of the Esports Foundation, put it, Level Up "captures the human side" of the competition.
The timing isn't an accident. The Esports World Cup heads to Paris this summer for its first edition outside Saudi Arabia, running July 6 through Aug. 23 with the overall prize pool climbing to $75 million.
Level Up arrives just days before the action gets underway. If you skipped esports last year, this is your catch-up.
