Prime Video's Esports World Cup: Level Up Goes Behind the Scenes of Esports' Biggest Event

Celebrity culture is changing. For years, the red carpet defined where the famous and the influential chose to be seen, but that is no longer the case. The proof of that shift isn't found at a film premiere or a fashion week front row. It's found at the Esports World Cup.

Esports World Cup: Level Up, the acclaimed documentary series from Emmy Award-winning filmmaker R.J. Cutler, is returning to Prime Video for a second season on June 26, turning its lens on the stories that defined the 2025 edition of the tournament and the extraordinary cast of figures, both on and off the server, that made it one of the most talked-about sporting events of the year.

"It's always surprising coming here and seeing the level of competition,” said Formula 1 world champion Lando Norris, who was in attendance for the event in 2025. “The best in the world for almost every game in the world."

The first season introduced millions of viewers to the scale and human drama of the Esports World Cup, a competition built around the Club Championship, where teams accumulate points across 25 tournaments in 24 different game titles over seven weeks, competing for a share of $70 million in prize money and the distinction of being crowned the best esports organization in the world. Season 2 picks up where that story left off, with the tournament only having grown in the intervening year.

Brazilian football legend Ronaldo Nazario – winner of two FIFA World Cups and widely considered one of the greatest players to ever play the game – was another star who made the trip to Riyadh, and spoke to the visceral atmosphere that greeted him. "We're feeling the passion of the people," he said.

Tony Hawk, the skateboarding legend who did more than perhaps any other athlete to bring an action sport to a mainstream global audience, called the event “very impressive,” and was able to find a few minutes of his time on site to impress local fans with the skateboarding skill that made him world-famous.

The celebrities in attendance extended beyond those who arrived as spectators. EWC ambassador and global football star Cristiano Ronaldo – himself the most-followed person on social media in the world – presented the Club Championship trophy at the end of the event.

At the sold-out opening ceremony, Post Malone performed for a packed arena before spending time backstage playing alongside professional players, showcasing the kind of crossover moment that would have seemed implausible in esports a decade ago.

And it’s not just the mainstream stars who are celebrities: names like Magnus Carlsen, EWC 2025 Chess champion and the best to ever play the game, is a competitor that needs no introduction.

Tennis star Nick Kyrgios put it in terms that will resonate with anyone who has sat inside a major sporting arena and felt the air change. "The crowd, the atmosphere, is literally better than Wimbledon or any Grand Slam," he said. "It's really special."

What Season 2 of Level Up promises is the fuller picture behind moments like these: the stories of the players and Clubs competing for glory, the executives navigating an industry still defining its own future, and the human drama that unfolds when the stakes are this high.

The 2025 Esports World Cup delivered those stories in abundance.

The tournament is bigger. The names attached to it are bigger. And if the reaction of a Formula 1 champion, a football icon, and a skateboarding legend is anything to go by, so is the spectacle.

If you want more Esports World Cup after binging the five-part series on Prime Video, the third edition of the tournament returns this summer, July 6 through August 23, in Paris, France. Head to the official website to watch the action live.