Members of the StarCraft 2 community have been left disappointed after the final Esports World Cup 2026 game was revealed, putting the nail in the coffin for their hopes of the game being present at the event.
SC2 was one of the games at both the first two EWC events in 2024 and 2025, showing love to one of the “original” esports with large prize pools never before seen in the title.
In 2024, the Esports World Cup hosted the first-ever StarCraft 2 tournament to surpass the $1 M mark, with a $1.05M prize pool. In 2025, the prize pool was reduced to a still-very-impressive $700,000, the joint second-highest in the esport’s history.
It was considered somewhat of a lifeline for the game, which had spent years slowly dropping down the pecking order of top-tier esports. Now, in the community’s eyes, that lifeline is gone.
StarCraft 2 Community Reacts to Esports World Cup Snub
Esports World Cup announced on January 19 that the final game to be at EWC 2026 would be Trackmania, ending speculation that it could be a game like Battlefield REDSEC, Rennsport, or even new Riot Games fighter 2XKO.
This immediately spurred some serious conversations among SC2 players, fans, and talent about the state and future of the game.
“So sad to read about EWC Sc2,” said British caster Benjamin “DeMu” Baker. “The most major part of my life, and honestly, one of the best games to watch out there, even if you have no idea what’s going on. But even more than that no RTS at all at the world finals. Not sure what to think, just feel a bit hollow.”
Fellow Brit James “Kaelaris” Carrol said that “Despite getting to do it at EWC last year, effectively to me it feels like a part of my life perished and I feel like I’m almost in mourning for that aspect of my world. It’s not been easy for my brain to get over it.”
This is due to the realization that he likely won’t do any StarCraft work in 2026, clearly a bitter pill to swallow.
Korean Zerg player Shin “SHIN” Hee-beom also shared his thoughts on the change, and while he didn’t love it, he did have some positivity to share too.
“I truly believe EWC was a great thing for the scene. However, seeing players and viewers constantly feeling anxious about whether EWC would continue, and losing motivation to practice because everything depended on a single tournament, made me feel sad for StarCraft II.
“Now that StarCraft II no longer has EWC, I hope the players and fans can work even harder together and build a freer scene that does not rely on any single organization or event.”
Obviously, this doesn’t mean the end of SC2 at the Esports World Cup for good. There’s every possibility they bring it back in 2027, just as they brought Fortnite back after removing it in 2025.