Garena, the developer of Free Fire, announced a multi-season partnership with Samsung Electronics for the Free Fire World Series (FFWS) Southeast Asia (SEA). This partnership comes on the heels of the recent resurgence of Free Fire esports after years of viewership decrease and it’s a great sign for the game’s future.

Image Credits: Garena

Free Fire World Series (FFWS) SEA x Samsung: Here’s what you need to know

The next season of the FFWS SEA, the fall season, is set to happen from Aug. 16 to Oct. 13 with a $300,000 prize pool. In the release, Garena said that the partnership will extend for the next two seasons of the FFWS SEA, meaning that the Spring 2025 season will also see the presence of Samsung. Additionally, as a part of this tie-up, players in the finals of the FFWS SEA will compete exclusively with the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra smartphone.

“We are committed to providing outstanding gaming experiences to passionate gamers and are excited to announce our collaboration with Garena for the next two seasons of the Free Fire World Series Southeast Asia. We trust that this partnership will offer an epic gaming experience and fulfill the Galaxy brand’s pledge of ‘Life opens up with Galaxy’,” said VP Jung Suh, head of digital commerce of the mobile experience business at Samsung Electronics.

Free Fire Esports sees viewership growth

Image Credits: Garena

Free Fire was once amongst the most-watched esports games worldwide, with the FFWS Singapore 2021 having a peak viewership of over 5 million. Since then, however, the game has seen a sharp fall in the overall engagement. While there are many reasons for this, the game has stabilized its ecosystem over the past few years.

The FFWS 2022, for example, had a peak of over 350,000 viewership which increased to about 570,000 in 2023, per Esports Charts. Similarly, the spring season of the FFWS SEA drew in 310,000 viewers, an increase of 189 percent since the Free Fire SEA Invitational 2023.

With the support of a renowned brand like Samsung, the future of Free Fire esports looks to be much brighter after it landed in murky waters over the past few years.


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