WCG 2000 challenge

The WCG 2000 Challenge was held at Everland, Yongin, Korea from October 7 to 15, 2000, with the aim of gauging the WCG's potential as a global eSports event.

WCG 2001 Seoul

WCG 2001 Seoul was the world's first international eSports competition, and the most popular games of the day such as ‘StarCraft: Brood War’ and ‘FIFA 2001’ were selected as official games. After the global qualifiers, WCG 2001 was successfully held at COEX in Seoul for five days, from December 5 to 9.

WCG 2002 Daejeon

WCG 2002 Daejeon was held at Expo Science Park in Daejeon, Korea for 6 days, running from October 28 to November 3. About 1.5 million people from all over the world participated in the preliminary contests, 456 eSports athletes from 45 countries participated in the finals, and more than 50,000 spectators visited the venue.

WCG 2003 Seoul

WCG 2003 Seoul was held for 7 days, from October 12 to 18, at Olympic Park in Seoul, Korea. More than 600,000 people from all over the world participated in the qualifying round. 562 eSports athletes from 55 countries participated in the finals, more than 150,000 people visited the arena, and console games were added as official events for the first time.

WCG 2004 San Francisco

WCG 2004 San Francisco was the start of the WCG’s journey to the world outside of Korea. It was held at the Bill Graham Auditorium in San Francisco on October 6-10, 2004, and the lineup was expanded to 8 official games.

WCG 2005 Singapore

WCG 2005 Singapore was held at the Suntec International Convention Centre in Singapore from November 16 to 20, 2005. ‘Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War’ and ‘Dead or Alive Ultimate’ were added to the official event, which now included eight official games.

WCG 2006 Monza

WCG 2006 Monza was held in Autodromo Monza, Italy from October 18 to 22, 2006, with 700 eSports athletes from 70 countries participating. 'Project Gotham Racing 3' was re-added as an official game, a nod to the fact that the competition was being held at a Formula One stadium. The ‘WCG Grand Finals Winner's Trophy’ was presented for the first time in the competition’s history.

WCG 2007 Seattle

WCG 2007 Seattle was held from October 3 to 7 at Qwest Field (now CenturyLink Field). More than 700 eSports athletes from 75 countries participated, and ‘Age of Empires III’ was again selected as an official game for a total 12 official games.

WCG 2008 Cologne

WCG 2008 Cologne was held in Koelnmesse, Cologne, Germany, with 800 players from 78 countries competing for gold medals in 14 official events, the highest number of official events ever. ‘Red Stone’, ‘Guitar Hero’ and ‘Virtual Fighter’ were added as console events, while the racing game ‘Asphalt’ became the first mobile game to be included in competition.

WCG 2009 Chengdu

WCG 2009 Chengdu was held at the Century City Convention Center in Chengdu, China, with more than 600 eSports athletes from 70 countries. 11 games were selected as official events, including the PC game 'TrackMania' and the mobile game 'Wise Star'.

WCG 2010 Los Angeles

WCG 2010 Los Angeles was held at the LA Convention Center (Los Angeles, USA), and had about 450 players from 60 countries participating in ten official events including 'Tekken 6' and 'Forza Motorsport'.

WCG 2011 Busan

WCG 2011 was held at BEXCO in Busan, Korea, with 600 players from 60 countries participating. ‘League of Legends’, ‘CrossFire’ and ‘Special Force’ were introduced for the first time, for a total of 10 official games.

WCG 2012 Kunshan

WCG 2012 Kunshan was held at the Kunshan International Convention Center in China, and included more than 500 eSports athletes from 40 countries. By this time, StarCraft had been updated to StarCraft 2 and Dota 2 was selected for the first time as an official game.

WCG 2013 Kunshan

WCG 2013 Kunshan marked the second time WCG was held in Kunshan, China. 'World of Tanks' and 'Super Street Fighter' were chosen as official events, with 500 players from 38 countries competing to win a total of seven gold medals. China's Lang Shuai and Xu Hongyu won a consecutive gold medal in CrossFire, and were named to the Hall of Fame.

WCG 2019 Xi'an

WCG 2019 Xi’an, back in six years, was held for four days on July 18-21 in Qujiang New District, Xi'an, China. 506 esports athletes from 34 countries participated in the grand final who has qualified from the online qualifiers, which attracted more than 40,000 gamers from 111 countries. 12 video game titles were selected for the WCG 2019 and 4 New Horizons events were newly added.

WCG 2020 CONNECTED

In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the WCG 2020 CONNECTED Grand Final was held in a hybrid broadcasting model. Although the tournament was aired from 2 separate studios, Seoul and Shanghai, the fans were able to see the players performing simultaneously in both studios in a single stream. To commemorate the 20th anniversary of WCG, this year’s event was organized with a variety of esports entertainment contents which set an example of what could be the future of esports platforms.