NVIDIA to sponsor World Cup

via Games Industry


Games-Services has announced that it has concluded a deal with NVIDIA for the graphics card company to be worldwide and main partner to the 2008 Electronic Sports World Cup.

Additionally, while the three previous finals have been held in Paris, next year's grand final will be held in California.

Preliminary events will be held in over 50 countries, and next year's event will aim to build on the success of this year's final, which attracted over 1 million spectators online.

Games-Services' CEO Matthieu Dallon explained the decisions: "NVIDIA has an international reputation for graphics excellence, so they are the ideal partner for us in this event.

"We made the decision to move because we felt it will be great for competitors, spectators and e-sports as a whole. It's part of our continuing efforts to ensure ESWC's skilled cyber-athletes gain the recognition they deserve by creating our most spectacular event ever in California."

The ESWC was inaugurated in 2003, and although eSports has become much popular in the West since then, a lack of sponsorship saw the recent demise of the World Series of Video Games.

Meanwhile the first Championship Gaming Series final will be held in December in Los Angeles.