Free Fire World Series

Free Fire World Series
Free Fire World Series Logo
GameFree Fire
Founded2019
FounderGarena
No. of teams18
RegionGlobal
Most recent
champion(s)		Brazil Fluxo (1st title)
Streaming partner(s)www.youtube.com/@freefireesportsofficial
Official websiteffesports.com
Editions
  • 2019
  • 2020
  • 2021 (1st)
  • 2021 (2nd)
  • 2022 (1st)
  • 2022 (2nd)
  • 2023
  • 2024

The Free Fire World Series (FFWS) is the annual professional Free Fire world championship tournament hosted by Garena. Teams compete for a total prize pool of US$2 million.[1] The 2021 edition of the event became world's most watched esports event by peak live viewer count at the time.[2]

Overview

The Free Fire World Series uses the Squad Battle Royale mode available in the video game Free Fire. 48 players (12 teams each one having four players) airdrop onto an island without any weapons or armor. Once on the ground, players must search for weapons, armor, and med kits. Players can knock down players using the weapons they collected. The last team to survive wins the game. Players get points based on the number of eliminations and final ranking of their team.[3][4]

History

Inaugural edition 2019

Free Fire World Series 2019 was held in November 2019 at Barra Olympic Park, Rio de Janeiro, and featured a prize pool of $400,000. 12 teams from Brazil, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Middle East, India, Latin America, North America, and Eurasia participated in the championship. It was won by the Brazilian representatives the Corinthians.[5] The event had a peak live viewers count of 1.9 million.[6]

2020 Cancellation

Main article: Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the video game industry § Esports

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the FFWS for the 2020 season - alongside the 2020 Free Fire World Cup 2020 (FFWC) that was supposed to be held in Jakarta during the Summer, were both cancelled. Free Fire World Series 2020 had to be replaced with Free Fire Continental Series 2020 which was held to be on April 19. Free Fire Continental Series was held as 3 separate events for Asia, EMEA and Americas. The event was streamed live on YouTube and had 1.5 million peak live viewers. There was a prize pool of $300,000. In each region a total of 18 teams fought for a prize pool of $300,000. The Asian region winner was EXP Esports, the EMEA region winner was Sbornaya Chr, and the American region winner was Team Liquid.[7][8][9]

2021

In 2021, Garena announced the Free Fire World Series with a prize pool of $2 million.[10] The grand finale was held in May 2021 at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore. A total of 18 teams competes for the FFWS trophy, which was won by Phoenix Force (EVOS Esports TH).[11] The Free Fire World Series 2021 became the most watched esports event at the time with over 5.4 million peak live viewers, surpassing the 2021 League of Legends World Championship, which had 4 million peak viewers.[12]

The second FFWS event was cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic scheduled to held in November 2021.[13]

2022

In 2022, two FFWS editions were held.

The first FFWS 2022 grand finale was held in May 2022 at the Resort World Sentosa convention centre. The event featured 18 teams representing different regions, competing for a prize pool of $2 million. The championship was won by Attack All Around.[14] The event had a maximum of 1.4 million concurrent viewers during the grand finale, which was a decrease of 4 million viewers from the 2021 viewership, partially due to the ban of Free Fire in India and Bangladesh.[15]

The second FFWS event of 2022 was held in Bangkok, Thailand.[16] The event featured 17 teams from around the world. Players compete for a prize pool of $2 million. The championship was won by EVOS Phoenix for the second time in this competition.[17]

2023

The 2023 Free Fire World Series grand finale took place in Bangkok, Thailand, hosting a total of 18 teams and a prize pool of $1 million. The participating teams comprised three from Brazil, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam each, while Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, Pakistan, Morocco, and Malaysia were represented by one team each. Team Magic Squad from Brazil won the championship. The event had a significantly low amount of viewership compared to previous FFWS.[18]

2024

The Free Fire World Series – Global Finals 2024 (FFWS), was held in November 2024 at Carioca Arena 1, Barra Olympic Park, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with a total of 18 teams and a prize pool of $1 million..[19] The qualification path of teams for this tournament were 2024 Esports World Cup – Free Fire, FFWS South East Asia 2024 Fall, FFWS Brazil 2024, FFWS LATAM 2024, FFWS Middle East and Africa 2024.

Hosts

Summary by country

Country Times hosted Editions
 Singapore 2 2021 (1st), 2022 (1st)
 Thailand 2 2022 (2nd), 2023
 Brazil 2 2019, 2024

Results

Ed. Year Host Country Venue & City Champion & Runner up 3rd Place MVP of the
Tournament 		Number
of Teams 		Ref
Champion Score Runner-up
1 2019  Brazil Barra Olympic Park,
Rio de Janeiro 		Brazil Corinthians 132 98 Russia Sbornaya ChR Thailand ILLUMINATE Slow TwoK Brazil Nobru
(Corinthians) 		12 [20]
– 2020 – (Not held because of COVID-19 pandemic.)
& replaced with Free Fire Continental Series 2020. 		– [21]
2 2021 (1st)  Singapore Marina Bay Sands,
Downtown Core 		Thailand Phoenix Force 113 77 Brazil LOUD Russia Silence Thailand The Cruz
(Phoenix Force) 		18 [22]
– 2021 (2nd) – (Not held because of COVID-19 pandemic.) – [23]
3 2022 (1st)  Singapore Resort World Sentosa,
Sentosa 		Thailand Attack All Around 92 91 Thailand EVOS Phoenix Portugal Vasto Mundo Thailand JLX
(Attack All Around) 		18 [24]
4 2022 (2nd)  Thailand Bangkok Thailand EVOS Phoenix 117 114 Brazil Vivo Keyd Stats Thailand Nigma Galaxy Thailand Moshi
(EVOS Phoenix) 		17 [25]
5 2023  Thailand Bangkok Brazil Magic Squad 112 95 Thailand Buriram United Esports Thailand CGGG Thailand DEW
(EXP Esports) 		18 [26]
6 2024  Brazil Carioca Arena 1,
Barra Olympic Park,
Rio de Janeiro 		Brazil Fluxo 86 83 Indonesia RRQ Thailand Buriram United Esports Brazil E1 18 [27]

Teams reaching the top three

Teams reaching the top three
Team Titles Runners-up Third place Top 3
total
Thailand EVOS Phoenix * 2 (2021 (1st), 2022 (2nd)) 1 (2022 (1st)) 3
Brazil Fluxo [pt] 1 (2024) 1
Brazil Magic Squad 1 (2023) 1
Thailand Attack All Around 1 (2022 (1st)) 1
Brazil Corinthians 1 (2019) 1
Thailand Buriram United Esports 1 (2023) 1(2024) 2
Indonesia RRQ 1 (2024) 1
Brazil Vivo Keyd Stats 1 (2022 (2nd)) 1
Brazil LOUD 1 (2021 (1st)) 1
Russia Sbornaya ChR 1 (2019) 1
Thailand CGGG 1 (2023) 1
Thailand Nigma Galaxy 1 (2022 (2nd)) 1
Portugal Vasto Mundo 1 (2022 (1st)) 1
Russia Silence 1 (2021 (1st)) 1
Thailand ILLUMINATE Slow TwoK 1 (2019) 1
* includes results representing Phoenix Force.

See also

References

  1. ^ Lai, Adrian (19 March 2021). "Free Fire World Series 2021 To Feature US$2Mil Prize Pool". IGN Southeast Asia. Archived from the original on 3 November 2023. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
  2. ^ "Top eSports championships by peak viewers 2022". Statista. Archived from the original on 3 November 2023. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  3. ^ "FFWS 2022 Finals: Here is overview of Free Fire World Series 2022 Finals". EsportsGen. 16 May 2022. Archived from the original on 25 November 2023. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
  4. ^ "Free Fire World Series (FFWS) 2022: Schedule, teams, prize pool, and more". GINX. 19 April 2022. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
  5. ^ "This team will represent India in Free Fire World Series 2019 finals on November 16". The Indian Express. 13 November 2019. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
  6. ^ Gordon, Galit. "Free Fire World Series 2019 Qualifiers Begin; Dranix eSports Wins Indonesia Masters Season 2". gamingcypher.com. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
  7. ^ Hashim, Natasha (9 March 2020). "Garena Free Fire Champions Cup 2020 Postponed Due to Covid-19". IGN Southeast Asia. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
  8. ^ Ahmed, Wasif (29 November 2020). "EXP Esports win Free Fire Continental Series Asia 2020". Dot Esports. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
  9. ^ Ray, Bodhisatwa (20 November 2020). "Free Fire Continental Series kicks off this weekend". TechRadar. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
  10. ^ Lai, Adrian (19 March 2021). "Free Fire World Series 2021 To Feature US$2Mil Prize Pool". IGN Southeast Asia. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
  11. ^ "Phoenix Force Lifts The Winner's Trophy at Finals of Free Fire World Series 2021". News18. 31 May 2021. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
  12. ^ Lai, Adrian (3 June 2021). "Free Fire World Series 2021 Singapore Smashes Global Viewership Record". IGN Southeast Asia. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
  13. ^ "World Series 2021 Mexico cancelled". Garena Indonesia. 26 August 2021.
  14. ^ Bahri, Syazwan (23 May 2022). "Thai Team Crowned Free Fire World Series 2022 Champions". IGN Southeast Asia. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
  15. ^ "2.7km of Cat6 ethernet cables and more: What it takes to run a US$2 million esports tournament". sg.news.yahoo.com. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
  16. ^ "Free Fire World Series (FFWS) 2022 Bangkok". TechStorm - Asian Esports & Tech Entertainment. 13 November 2022. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
  17. ^ Šimić, Ivan (28 November 2022). "Free Fire World Series sees significant drop in viewership". Esports Insider. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  18. ^ Kabir, Ahsan (27 November 2023). "MAGIC SQUAD Clinches Victory in FFWS 2023 Grand Finals; Results, Highlights & More". AFK Gaming. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
  19. ^ FFWS. "Free Fire World Series 2024 Host". WikiEditPS.
  20. ^ Ahmed, Wasif (17 November 2019). "Corinthians win Free Fire World Series 2019". Dot Esports. Archived from the original on 25 November 2023. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
  21. ^ Hashim, Natasha (9 March 2020). "Garena Free Fire Champions Cup 2020 Postponed Due to Covid-19". IGN Southeast Asia. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
  22. ^ Ahmed, Wasif (30 May 2021). "FFWS Singapore 2021 Finals: Overall Standings and Points Table". Dot Esports. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
  23. ^ "World Series 2021 Mexico cancelled". Garena Indonesia. 26 August 2021.
  24. ^ Ahmed, Wasif (21 May 2022). "FFWS Sentosa 2022 Finals: Overall Standings and Points Table". Dot Esports. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
  25. ^ Negreira, Camila (26 November 2022). "EVOS Phoenix win Free Fire World Series (FFWS) 2022 Bangkok". Dot Esports. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
  26. ^ "FFWS 2023 becomes Free Fire's most popular competition of the year". Esports Charts.
  27. ^ FFWS. "Free Fire World Series 2024 Host". WikiEditPS.