Esports World Cup to Host Free Public Festival at Paris’ Champs-Élysées

The Esports Foundation has announced that a free, open-air esports festival will take place on August 2, 2026, at the Champs-Élysées in Paris, running from 3:30 PM to 8 PM CEST. This event is being promoted as the largest public celebration of gaming and esports that France has ever seen. The festival is co-created with the Comité Champs-Élysées and runs alongside the Esports World Cup (EWC), which is being held at the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles throughout the summer. While the main competition of the EWC occurs at the convention center, this festival aims to extend the event into the heart of the city, reaching a broader audience beyond dedicated esports fans. According to the Esports Foundation, France currently has over 11.8 million esports participants and more than 2 million regular viewers. The festival is designed to grow the esports community by making competitive gaming more accessible to families and newcomers. The centerpiece of the event will be a mixed-team competition featuring three figures described as pioneers of French esports and founders of the country's leading esports clubs, alongside personalities from music, entertainment, and content creation. These mixed teams will compete in a mini-tournament of Rocket League, with additional showmatches in Trackmania and EA Sports FC 26. Beyond the main stage, organizers will set up an interactive gaming culture village that will run throughout the afternoon, featuring hands-on activities, educational talks, and panel discussions with professional esports athletes and teams. The festival is free and open to the public, taking place in the pedestrianized section of the Champs-Élysées between Rue Arsène Houssaye and Rue de Berri. Attendees can easily access the venue via several Paris Métro lines and bus services. The Champs-Élysées festival is part of the broader 2026 Esports World Cup, which runs from July 6 to August 23 and marks the tournament's first edition held outside Saudi Arabia, following two previous years in Riyadh. The event brings together more than 2,000 players and over 200 clubs from more than 100 countries across 25 tournaments spanning 24 game titles, with a total prize pool of $75 million, the largest in esports history. Central to the event is the EWC Club Championship, which allocates $30 million of the total prize pool to reward clubs for consistent performance across every game they enter, rather than crowning a single-title winner. Team Falcons enters this year’s competition as the two-time defending Club Champion, while organizations such as Team Liquid, Team Vitality, and Gen.G are among the challengers looking to unseat them. The Club Championship winner is set to receive $7 million. The Champs-Élysées festival reflects the Esports Foundation's broader push to expand esports into new audiences and communities, part of an effort to grow esports into the world's largest sport while building a more sustainable future for the industry.