GeoGuessr is an Esport Now - Esports World Cup Festival Lineup

This year, fans can find GeoGuessr at the 2025 Esports World Cup, where it will have a tournament in the EWC's festival portion. Let's explore the event's key info and dates.

A GeoGuessr tournament will serve as part of the 2025 EWC Festival lineup. / Esports World Cup

Location-finding title GeoGuessr has gone viral, with players hunting down Google Maps locations using street signs, surrounding landscapes and more clues in professional tournaments. GeoGuessr fans won't need Rainbolt to find its next competition: the Esports World Cup is preparing to host an event as part of its 2025 lineup. Let's walk through everything we know about the announcement, including the EWC's GeoGuessr schedule and key info.

What is the Esports World Cup?

Esports World Cup

The Esports World Cup (EWC), founded in 2024, is an annual international event with tournaments in over 24 competitive titles. It is located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and will host "2,000 elite players and 200 Clubs from over 100 countries." The Esports World Cup Foundation (EWCF) nonprofit funds the initiative. This year's EWC will occur from Tuesday, June 8, to Sunday, August 24. Alongside its main tournament scene, the Esports World Cup also functions as an esports convention. Its Esports World Cup Festival (EWCF) portion serves as a "global celebration of gaming and esports culture," including "esports tournaments and live music stages [...] retro arcades, anime cafes, cosplay shows and creator studios." The festival extends throughout Riyadh and lets attendees experience the city.

Esports orgs partner with the EWC as "club teams." These teams compete in different games and receive a ranking at the end of the event. The EWC rewards teams who win individual tournaments and crowns the best overall esports organization. It will have the largest cumulative prize pool in esports history, with over 70 million USD of potential winnings. Big-name esports titles, including League of Legends, VALORANT, DOTA 2 and Call of Duty, will all appear at the event.

Related Article: The 2025 Esports World Cup: Full Schedule, Prize Pool, All Games

GeoGuessr Joins the 2025 Esports World Cup

GeoGuessr has become an unorthodox addition to the esports world in recent years. The game, which requires players to guess randomized Google Maps locations and judges their accuracy, went viral in 2023 as its fan base became increasingly competitive. Users' strategies range from logical clues like street signs to innovative methods like examining sun and star placements, looking at leaf shapes and even recognizing soil and rock compositions. GeoGuessr pros have now emerged, and the game has held a 'GeoGuessr World Cup' pro tournament for three years. The GeoGuessr World Cup Finals, its most prestigious matchup, has a 100,000 USD prize pool. In addition, there is even a GeoGuessr Liquipedia page listing its pro standings.

On May 16 2025, the Esports World Cup announced GeoGuessr would become part of its 2025 event with a major Festival tournament. This reveal arises shortly after chess, another non-traditional esport, joined the EWC's main game lineup. Chief Games Officer Fabian Scheuermann states:

"We’re excited to welcome GeoGuessr to the Esports World Cup 2025 as part of our EWC Festival tournament program [...] Few games have captured the imagination of players around the world quite like it - its blend of exploration, puzzle solving, and fast-paced competition has turned it into a global phenomenon. Together, we are bringing GeoGuessr’s official tournament to the Middle East to grow global ecosystems, expand opportunities for players and fans, and showcase the diversity of modern competitive gaming on the world’s biggest stage."

The event will take place at the Esports World Cup's accompanying Festival portion (EWCF). It will also interconnect with official GeoGuessr circuits — the EWCF's event is a Last Chance Wildcard Tournament, which awards its two highest placements qualification for the 2025 GeoGuessr World Championship. The stakes are high, since aspiring GeoGuessr pros won't find (pun intended) another chance to enter after the Wildcard Tournament concludes.

The Last Chance Wildcard Tournament will include a 20,000 USD prize pool and feature players from around the world. There will be 16 participants in the event. An EWC press release elaborates on the tournament's importance for GeoGuessr esports:

"The inclusion of GeoGuessr at EWC represents a major milestone for the game’s competitive scene, placing it alongside iconic titles and opening new opportunities to reach players and fans worldwide. The EWCF remains committed to providing games with strong communities and competitive potential the platform to grow and thrive."

Related Article: Fortnite Geoguessr lets you test your knowledge of classic Fortnite maps

GeoGuessr is reportedly not the only tournament at the EWCF. Esports World Cup team statements indicate they plan to add competitions for multiple games to the event's surrounding convention. While these tournaments will operate on a smaller scale than EWC's main lineup, they will help integrate rising esports titles into the overall ecosystem.

When is the Esports World Cup Festival GeoGuessr Tournament?

According to an EWC release, the GeoGuessr Last Chance Wildcard Tournament will occur during Week 3 of the festival. This means it will take place between July 21 and 27 2025.

The 2025 GeoGuessr World Championship, which Last Chance Wildcard Tournament winners qualify for, will occur in Copenhagen, Denmark on August 29 and 30 2025.

Related Article: 2025 Esports World Cup Reveals 70 Million USD Prize Pool

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