Call of Duty League Inks Deal with Esports World Cup Foundation

Fans looking forward to seeing Call of Duty (CoD) at the 2025 Esports World Cup no longer need to wait for confirmation. The CoD League or CDL’s recent partnership with the Esports World Cup Foundation (EWCF) will extend the former’s competitive calendar—ensuring that one of its events will be officially held as part of the Esports World Cup.

This new deal yet again shows how the video game franchise continues to keep itself relevant, primarily by adapting to what its players want. Our post Free Online Multiplayer Games, for example, notes that some CoD releases were exclusive to the Xbox console, which limited accessibility to certain titles. To address the issue, CoD developer Activision leveraged the growing popularity of new mediums like mobile gaming. Doing so proved particularly successful, and Call of Duty: Mobile downloads surpassed the one billion mark last November. 

Activision is going even further this year by taking the CDL to the next level with this EWCF partnership, as it has the potential to create a lasting impact on the esports scene as a whole.

Behind CDL’s new deal with the Esports World Cup Foundation

The current agreement between the CDL and the EWCF isn’t the first of its kind. In 2024, for example, all 12 teams in the league directly received an open invitation to compete at the Esports World Cup in Riyadh. The invites went out after two CoD titles—Call of Duty: Warzone and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III—were officially announced as part of the Cup’s event lineup. 

As such, the CDL’s three-year partnership with the EWCF, which goes into effect this year, isn’t a surprising development. It’ll also do more than just attract CoD viewers to the Esports World Cup. Since the EWCF itself is a nonprofit aimed at providing financial stability to the overall esports industry, the deal is expected to give more CoD teams the opportunity to play in front of global audiences and potentially win larger prize pools. 

“Together, we are creating new opportunities for players, from grassroots to elite competitors, to rise through the ranks and compete on the world’s biggest stage,” EWCF Chief Games Officer Fabian Scheuermann stated upon the signing of the deal. 

Perhaps more importantly, this new partnership is bound to give the CDL more exposure. Though the league continues to break its own viewership records—the CDL’s 2025 opening weekend garnered a concurrent viewership of around 204,000, double the figure for 2024—those records still pale in comparison to other popular esports titles. The 2024 League of Legends World Championships Final, for example, drew in a whopping 6.8 million viewers at its peak. 

In including CoD titles like Warzone at more widely-watched events like the Esports World Cup, the CDL can net the exposure it needs to attract more viewers during the remainder of its competitive calendar. That, in turn, may help better promote the CoD community’s dedication to creating safer, and more accessible gaming environments—and ultimately influence similarly inclusive trends across the broader esports industry. 

Credit: @cutxeventcenter

How this deal will impact the wider esports scene 

The CDL’s renewed partnership with the EWCF is just one of many in the esports industry that’s designed to cater to fans, including their demands that organizations address persistent issues like gender inclusion and the financial accessibility of competing in tournaments. The CoD community has been known to tackle these issues directly, resulting in better gaming and viewing experiences for fans. This is exemplified by Thunderpick and the*gamehers’ partnership extension. 

Thunderpick is a crypto CoD betting platform known for its accessible payment methods and passion for esports. Fans can use the site to place bets on matches between popular CDL teams like Atlanta FaZe and OpTic Texas using tokens like Bitcoin, Tether, and Ethereum. It brings its dedication to inclusivity through its the*gamehers partnership by giving women gamers opportunities to gain exposure and compete in esports tournaments, which led the likes of FaZe member and the*gamehers Award winner Kalei Renay to achieve a 200% viewership increase on Twitch. 

Such deals have bolstered the impact of the CDL’s own initiatives, including the major structural changes it’s made to help its events become more accessible to its teams. In April 2024, it eliminated entry fees needed for CDL teams to play CoD, refunded any entry fees they may have paid in the past, and even improved the amount of revenue they could earn from their in-game merchandise and Champs bundles. In doing so, Activision and the CDL improved the potential ROI and peace of mind of teams investing in the latter, making being a part of the league more accessible on the whole.

As it gains more exposure from its inclusion in the Esports World Cup, CoD initiatives like these can potentially gain more attention. Since they address key concerns like inclusivity and accessibility, partnerships like Thunderpick’s and the*gamehers’—as well as franchise models like the CDL’s—may be adopted by more esports-minded businesses and organizations.