RIYADH: Emmy Award-winning director R.J. Cutler is no stranger to esports.

As part of the inaugural Esports World Cup in Riyadh in 2024, the American filmmaker showcased the competition’s athletes and their stories in the five-part documentary “Esports World Cup: Level Up,” streaming on Prime Video.

Cutler’s series delves deep into the lives of these elite players, revealing the dedication, skill and passion that drive them, offering a platform to connect with a global audience. 

During his visit to Riyadh, Cutler discussed the significance of the Esports World Cup.

“The Esports World Cup is incredibly impactful because esports is still new and emerging on the global stage,” Cutler said. “To see the way Saudi Arabia and the Saudi people have gathered around the Esports World Cup is amazing, to see the infrastructure that’s been built is extraordinary, and everything around it is mind-blowing.”

By highlighting the human stories and showcasing Esports World Cup Foundation’s significant investment in the gaming and esports industry, Cutler believes the series is able to reach new audiences and showcase how the Esports World Cup is changing people’s lives.

“One of the things we hoped to do, and we were successful in doing, was making the show accessible to everybody whether you were a fan of esports, or not.

“It’s a human sport and that’s what we wanted to show (the audience), we wanted to reflect exactly what we experienced ourselves first-hand in Riyadh.”

Growing from a niche sport to a global phenomenon, the Esports World Cup had elevated the esports and gaming industry, added prestige, provided a global platform for teams and players to thrive, while fostering a community of passionate fans from across the world. 

“The cliche of what a gamer is, is totally defined by the Esports World Cup, it’s as broad a sport as any sport there is and with every single player you have a different extraordinary story, that’s what we see in Level Up,” Cutler said.

“Humanizing the esports industry was our whole objective, we tell human stories and we’re making real films. We want the audience to connect with other people and to project themselves into the scenario so that anybody playing games at home can think that ‘I could be there, that could be me.’

“The series showcases a full range of human stories, it’s character-driven, it’s emotional, it’s dramatic; we want you to laugh, cry and stomp your feet and in season one that was definitely happening.”

The Esports World Cup is a key pillar of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 initiative, and a significant part of the Kingdom’s national gaming and esports strategy, which aims to foster talent development, establish a world-class gaming and esports ecosystem, and support economic diversification. The goal is to create 39,000 jobs and contribute $13.3 billion to Saudi Arabia’s economy by 2030.

The inaugural Esports World Cup was a watershed moment, as the world’s best players converged in Riyadh to compete across the most popular games and win their share of a record-breaking prize pool, but in 2025 things are bigger, better and bolder.

Competing for a $70-plus million prize pool, the largest in esports history, more than 2,000 players, from 200 clubs, representing more than 100 countries, have returned for the Esports World Cup 2025, competing across 25 tournaments and 24 games including Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, League of Legends, EA FC 25, Rocket League, and PUBG Battlegrounds.

The event runs until Aug. 24, and is held alongside the Esports World Cup Festival, a celebration of esports and gaming culture that features interactive experiences, live performances, competitions and global cuisine, facilitating cultural exchange and showcasing Saudi Arabia’s cultural heritage to global visitors.

For 2025, the prize pool has grown, ticket sales and visitor numbers have swelled, and its global appeal has increased exponentially, bolstered by the addition of Cristiano Ronaldo as the global ambassador and a live performance from Post Malone at the opening ceremony.

“There was a $60 million prize pool last year, more than $70 million this year, this incredible infrastructure has sprouted up around it, the passion of the audiences and those following all of the teams is amazing,” Cutler said.

“The Esports World Cup is something that you really have to experience to believe it.”