World Cyber Games head Brad Lee has sent an email out to the press stating that World Cyber Games Inc. will no longer be holding tournaments.
Brad’s email is succinct. He thanks the fans and all the followers after 14 years of back-to-back tournaments and explains that the WCG committee looked at the current business environment, as well as global trends, and came to the conclusion that it would be best to end the annual event.
However, the brand of World Cyber Games itself is not kaput. Every one of WCG’s partners will now be able to use the brand in their home country moving forward. Brad ends his letter stating that he is ‘saying goodbye’ to WCG.
World Cyber Games was founded in 2000 and was, at its peak, the biggest esports organization in the world, boasting sponsorships from Samsung and Microsoft, among others. The tournaments started in South Korea, with the games Starcraft: Brood War, Quake III Arena, FIFA 2000, and Age of Empires 2.
It would eventually be Starcraft that the tournaments would become best known for, as they also helped foster the competitive community in the country. However, the tournaments always had several games running in the tournaments, including always having one fighting game, one FPS, and the FIFA for that year. WCG also tried to go the reality show route, with two seasons of WCG Ultimate Gamer shown in 2009 and 2010.
The WCG website is still not updated with information about these events, but we hope it will not be long before Brad and other members of the WCG committee resurface to provide more clarity.