# World Cyber Games

The World Cyber Games (WCG) is an international esports competition with multi-game titles in which hundreds of esports athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competitions also known as Esports Olympics. WCG events attempt to emulate a traditional sporting tournament, such as the Olympic Games; events included an official opening ceremony, and players from various countries competing for gold, silver, and bronze medals. WCG are held every year in cities around the world. The WCG 2020 competition received nearly 650 million views worldwide.

## General

World Cyber Games is one of the largest global esports tournaments, with divisions in various countries. The World Cyber Games, created by International Cyber Marketing CEO Yoosup Oh and backed financially by Samsung, was considered the e-sports Olympics; events included an official opening ceremony, and players from various countries competing for gold, silver and bronze medals. The organization itself had an official mascot, and used an Olympic Games inspired logo. Organizations from each participating country conducted preliminary events at a regional level, before conducting national finals to determine the players best suited to represent them in the main World Cyber Games tournament event. All events had areas for spectators, but the tournament could also be viewed over internet video streams.
Besides providing a platform for tournament gaming, the World Cyber Games was used as a marketing tool; sponsors, such as Samsung, using the space around the venue to set up product demonstrations and stalls. In addition, advertisers saw the event as a good means to reach young male audiences, who may not be exposed to traditional advertising streams via television.

## History

In 2000, the World Cyber Games was formed, and an event was held titled "The World Cyber Game Challenge", which began with an opening ceremony on 7 October. The event was sponsored by the Republic of Korea's Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Ministry of Information and Communications, and Samsung. It brought together teams from 17 countries to compete against each other in PC games including Quake III Arena, FIFA 2000, Age of Empires II, and StarCraft: Brood War. The tournament ended on 15 October 2000. The competition initially had 174 competitors from 17 different countries with a total prize purse of $20,000.
In 2001, the World Cyber Games held their first main event, hosted in Seoul, Korea, with a prize pool of $300,000 USD. National preliminaries were held between March and September, with the main tournament running between 5 December to 9 December. The World Cyber Games quoted an attendance of 389,000 competitors in the preliminaries, with 430 players advancing to the final tournament; teams from 24 countries in total were involved in the tournament.
In 2002, the World Cyber Games held a larger event in Daejeon, Korea with a prize pool of US$1,300,000; 450,000 competitors took part in the preliminary events, with 450 ultimately making it through to the final tournament. The 2003 tournament, which took place in Seoul again, saw an even bigger prize pool of US$2,000,000, and was the first World Cyber Games tournament to feature a console based competition, with the game Halo: Combat Evolved on the Xbox.
In 2004, the World Cyber Games held a tournament in San Francisco, California, United States, the first tournament outside of its home country. At this stage, the prize pool was at US$2,500,000; with 642 players competing in the grand final. The tournament has since been hosted in various countries around the world; including Singapore in 2005 and Monza, Italy in 2006 - at this time Microsoft became a major sponsor to the event, who would provide software and hardware for all the events through to 2008. In addition, all games played at the tournament would be based exclusively on Windows PC's or the Xbox console.
In 2006, the prize purse had risen to $462,000, and the event had grown to 9 different competitions and 700 qualified participants from 70 different countries.
In 2007, the event was hosted in Seattle, Washington, United States, with a total prize pool of US$4,000,000. In 2008, the tournament was hosted in Cologne, Germany; it was the first World Cyber Games tournament to incorporate a mobile-game based tournament, with Asphalt 4: Elite Racing, In 2009, the tournament was held in Chengdu, China, and featured a special promotion of the game Dungeon & Fighter. The tournament was also coincided to run alongside the World Cyber Games debut reality television show, WCG Ultimate Gamer. Season 2 of WCG Ultimate Gamer was aired between August and October 2010.
In 2014 February, the CEO Brad Lee announced the closing of WCG. Several partners described difficulty working with the CEO and the organization.
In March 2017, the former Samsung owned WCG Trademark was transferred to Korean Publisher Smilegate. Plans to develop the WCG "into the world's top digital entertainment festival in the future". World Cyber Games 2018 should have been hosted in Bangkok on April 26–29, 2018, but was cancelled subsequently. World Cyber Games 2019 was hosted in Xi'an, China on July 18–21, 2019. The WCG 2020 competition received nearly 650 million views worldwide.

### World Cyber Game tournaments

| Event | Date | Total prize (USD) | Host location | Participants | Countries | Games offered |
| WCG Challenge | October 7 – 15, 2000 | $200,000 | Everland, Yongin, South Korea | 174 | 17 | Age of Empires IIFIFA 2000Quake III ArenaStarCraft: Brood WarUnreal Tournament |
| WCG 2001 | December 5 – 9, 20 | $300,000 | COEX Convention & Exhibition Center, Seoul, South Korea | 430 | 37 | Age of Empires IICounter-StrikeFIFA 2001Quake III ArenaStarCraft: Brood WarUnreal Tournament |
| WCG 2002 | October 28 – November 3, 2002 | $300,000 | Expo Science Park, Daejeon, South Korea | 462 | 45 | 2002 FIFA World CupAge of Empires IICounter-StrikeQuake III ArenaStarCraft: Brood WarUnreal Tournament |
| WCG 2003 | October 12 – 18, 2003 | $350,000 | Olympic Park, Seoul, South Korea | 562 | 55 | Age of MythologyCounter-StrikeFIFA 2003HaloStarCraft: Brood WarUnreal Tournament 2003Warcraft III |
| WCG 2004 | October 6 – 10, 2004 | $400,000 | San Francisco, California, United States | 642 | 63 | Counter-Strike: Condition ZeroFIFA Football 2004HaloNeed for Speed: UndergroundProject Gotham Racing 2StarCraft: Brood WarUnreal Tournament 2004Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne |
| WCG 2005 | November 16 – 20, 2005 | $435,000 | Suntec City, Singapore | 679 | 67 | Counter-Strike: SourceDead or Alive UltimateFIFA Football 2005Halo 2Need for Speed: Underground 2StarCraft: Brood WarWarcraft III: The Frozen ThroneWarhammer 40,000: Dawn of War |
| WCG 2006 | October 18 – 22, 2006 | $462,000 | Monza, Italy | 700 | 70 | Counter-Strike 1.6Dead or Alive 4FIFA 06Need for Speed: Most WantedProject Gotham Racing 3Quake 4StarCraft: Brood WarWarcraft III: The Frozen ThroneWarhammer 40,000: Winter Assault |
| WCG 2007 | October 3 – 7, 2007 | $448,000 | Seattle, Washington, United States | 700 | 75 | Age of Empires III: The Warchiefs (1v1) – (PC)Carom3D (1v1) – (PC)Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars (1v1) – (PC)Counter-Strike 1.6 (5v5) – (PC)Dead or Alive 4 (1v1) – (Xbox 360)FIFA 07 (1v1) – (PC)Gears of War (4v4) – (Xbox 360)Need for Speed: Carbon (1v1) – (PC)Project Gotham Racing 3 (1v1) – (Xbox 360)StarCraft: Brood War (1v1) – (PC)Tony Hawk's Project 8 (1v1) – (Xbox 360)Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne (1v1) – (PC) |
| WCG 2008 | November 5 – 9, 2008 | $470,000 | Cologne, Germany | 800 | 78 | Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties (1v1) – (PC)Asphalt 4 (1v1) – (Mobile)Carom3D (1v1) – (PC)Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath (1v1) –(PC)Counter-Strike 1.6 (5v5) – (PC)FIFA 08 (1v1) – (PC)Guitar Hero 3 (1v1) – (Xbox 360)Halo 3 (4v4) – (Xbox 360)Need for Speed: ProStreet (1v1) –(PC)Project Gotham Racing 4(1v1) – (Xbox 360)Red Stone (2v2) – (PC)StarCraft: Brood War (1v1) – (PC)Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne (1v1) – (PC)Virtua Fighter 5 (1v1) – (Xbox 360) |
| WCG 2009 | November 11 – 15, 2009 | $500,000 | Chengdu, Sichuan, China | 600 | 65 | Asphalt 4 (1v1) – (Mobile)Carom3D (1v1) – (PC)Counter-Strike 1.6 (5v5) – (PC)Dungeon & Fighter – (PC) (Promo Game)FIFA 09 (1v1) – (PC)Guitar Hero: World Tour (1v1) – (Xbox 360)Red Stone (4v4) – (PC)StarCraft: Brood War (1v1) – (PC)TrackMania Nations Forever (1v1) – (PC)Virtua Fighter 5 (1v1) – (Xbox 360)Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne (1v1) – (PC)Wise Star 2 (1v1) – (Mobile) |
| WCG 2010 | September 30 – October 3, 2010 | $250,000 | Los Angeles, California, United States | 450 | 58 | Asphalt 5Carom 3DCounter-Strike 1.6FIFA 10Guitar Hero 5Forza Motorsport 3League of LegendsLost SagaStarCraft: Brood WarTekken 6TrackMania Nations ForeverWarcraft III: The Frozen Throne |
| WCG 2011 | December 8 – 11, 2011 | $303,000 | Busan, South Korea | 600 | 60 | Asphalt 6: AdrenalineCounter-Strike 1.6Crossfire (by Smile Gate)FIFA 11League of LegendsSpecial Force (by Dragonfly) (Soldier Front in United States)StarCraft II: Wings of LibertyTekken 6Warcraft III: The Frozen ThroneWorld of Warcraft: Cataclysm |
| WCG 2012 | November 29 – December 2, 2012 | $258,000 | Kunshan, China | 500 | 40 | CrossfireDota 2StarCraft II: Wings of LibertyWarcraft III: The Frozen ThroneFIFA 12Counter-Strike OnlineDefense of the AncientsQQ SpeedWorld of Tanks |
| WCG 2013 | November 28 – December 1, 2013 | $306,000 | Kunshan, China | 500 | 38 | CrossfireSuper Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition Ver. 2012League of LegendsStarCraft II: Heart of the SwarmWarcraft III: The Frozen ThroneFIFA 14Assault FireQQ SpeedWorld of Tanks |
| WCG 2019 | July 18 – 21, 2019 | $612,500 | Xi'an, China | 506 | 34 | Dota 2Honor of KingsClash RoyaleWarcraft III: The Frozen ThroneHearthstoneCrossfireStarCraft II: Legacy of the Void |
| WCG 2020 | September 7 – November 8, 2020 | $285,000 | ONLINE (Shanghai, China / Seoul, South Korea) | - | - | CrossfireWarcraft III: ReforgedHonor of KingsFIFA Online 4 |
| WCG 2023 | July 28 – July 30, 2023 | - | Busan, South Korea | - | - | Mobile Legends: Bang BangClash RoyaleHearthstoneValorantGenshin Impact |
| WCG 2024 | August 31 – September 1, 2024 | - | Jakarta, Indonesia | - | - | Mobile Legends: Bang BangTekken 8Street Fighter 6ValorantCrossfire |