EWCF CEO bullish on esports industry prospects, welcomes Chinese participation

Ralf Reichert, CEO of the Esports World Cup Foundation (EWCF), has detailed how a growing and increasingly active fan base, particularly in China, bodes well for the future prospects of the esports industry.

Currently, the 2024 Esports World Cup (EWC), hosted by EWCF and ESL FACEIT Group, is taking place in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh. Running from July 3 to Aug25, the multi-game tournament has attracted top gamers from around the world to the city.

In a recent interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN), Reichert noted that the current global scale of the esports industry is growing rapidly, along with the gaming industry as a whole.

"If you talk about the business of esports, you need to look at the business of games first, which is worth 200 billion U.S. dollars and is among the largest entertainment industries, much bigger than music and movies combined. If you look at esports, it's only a fraction of it but is continuously growing. It is only worth two billion U.S. dollars now but growing 20 percent year over year. It's going to have a billion fans soon," said the CEO.

According to Reichert, the ongoing tournament has also excelled in digital viewership, event attendance, and media coverage.

"We have a 60 million U.S. dollars prize pool, which is a huge game changer for the whole industry from a consumer point of view. We have had 177 million hours watched digitally only, which makes it among the largest esports events in the world, hopefully being the largest of all time. Over a million people visited Boulevard where the event is happening. It's really the first time an esports event is going beyond the pure game audience to hit the mainstream audience in viewership, reporting, and attendance," he said.

Reichert also highlighted the importance of the Chinese esports market and expressed optimism for further growth from both sides in the sector.

"If you look at the Chinese market, it's the most important esports market in the world. For the Esports World Cup, the largest viewership comes from China. We've had one winning team from China so far in Honor of Kings. Overall, we are proud that Chinese players are coming to the Kingdom participating, and we are incredibly excited for the future and how we can grow together," said the executive.

EWCF CEO bullish on esports industry prospects, welcomes Chinese participation

The European Central Bank (ECB) announced on Thursday that it would slash key interest rates by 25 basis points in a bid to wind down the restrictive monetary policy.

Effective from March 12, the interest rates on the deposit facility, the main refinancing operations and the marginal lending facility will be decreased to 2.50 percent, 2.65 percent and 2.90 percent respectively, said the central bank in a statement.

The disinflation process is well on track, with headline inflation averaging 2.3 percent in 2025, 1.9 percent in 2026 and 2.0 percent in 2027, the ECB said.

The decision to keep on cutting rates came at a time when the economy in the eurozone is facing increasing uncertainties.

In its latest edition of the staff projections on Thursday, the ECB lowered its forecast for economic growth in the eurozone to 0.9 percent for 2025, 1.2 percent for 2026 and 1.3 percent for 2027.

This marks a downward revision from the ECB's forecast in December last year, which had projected 1.1 percent growth in 2025 and 1.4 percent in 2026, while the 2027 outlook remains unchanged.

The ECB attributed the weaker growth outlook for 2025 and 2026 to declining exports and sluggish investment, citing high trade policy uncertainty and broader economic instability as key factors.

ECB cuts interest rates by 25 basis points