Esports Foundation opens EWC 2026 Creator Program with $2m reward pool, plus co-streaming restrictions

Ollie Ring, Senior Editor

Last Updated: 12/06/2026

The Esports Foundation has opened applications for its Esports World Cup 2026 Creator Program, giving approved co-streamers access to tournament broadcasts, the chance to ‘complete missions’, climb leaderboards, with a stated $2 million reward pool across EWC and ENC.

The program is designed for creators who want to co-stream tournament coverage to their own communities. According to the announcement, participating creators will be able to complete tournament-level missions, earn points, progress through a Battle Pass, and compete on both EWC-wide and tournament-specific leaderboards.

Esports Foundation targets the streamer, not the end user

It appears that the Esports Foundation is adding an extra layer of gamification, seeing the “streamer” as its end user. It appears the company is (perhaps wisely) acknowledging that targeting the ultimate end consumer across such a multitude of titles is extremely difficult. As such, they are encouraging streamers to bring the tournament to their audiences, and encouraging them with missions, monetary rewards, and leaderboards.

The program will support creators across major streaming platforms, including Twitch, YouTube, Bilibili, Huya and TikTok. It is scheduled to launch alongside the official EWC tournament schedule, with reward opportunities available during ‘campaign activations’ across the event. The tournament gets underway in July, with all the bells and whistles expected out of the Esports World Cup. Last year, Post Malone headlined the opening ceremony.

Terms and conditions apply, including no personal sponsorship

The terms and conditions set out several limits for approved co-streamers. Platform-native monetisation is permitted, including ads served by the streaming platform, subscriptions, channel points and direct viewer contributions. The terms state that platform-generated ad revenue belongs to the co-streamer.

However, co-streamers are not allowed to sell merchandise, run third-party brand integrations, promote personal sponsorships or use the broadcast as independent commercial production. Promotion of gambling or betting services is also prohibited.

The rules also place restrictions on how creators can present the broadcast. Official EWC logos, overlays, and sponsor placements must remain visible and unobstructed. Co-streamers may not crop or reframe the broadcast in a way that removes sponsor placements, and personal overlays cannot cover official sponsor branding, score displays, minimaps or other required broadcast elements.

Approved co-streamers will be added to an official whitelist that provides limited protection against DMCA claims for music included in the EWC broadcast. That protection does not cover music added independently by the creator or content produced outside the official broadcast feed.

The terms also state that co-streamers grant the Esports Foundation a perpetual, royalty-free license to use their likeness, voice and excerpts from their broadcast for marketing and promotional purposes connected to the Esports World Cup.

Violations can lead to a formal warning, removal from the current program, a permanent ban from future EWC events or legal action, depending on the severity of the breach.

The announcement has not yet made clear the full reward structure, country eligibility list or complete platform-specific requirements.

Ollie Ring, Senior Editor

Ollie has been at the intersection of video games, esports, and gambling for over ten years and has also worked in consultancy in the gambling industry. He has helped host and attended numerous UK esports events both B2B and B2C in the last decade. Ollie's work can be found on the likes of: BBC, Red Bull Gaming, Esports Insider, CasinoBeats, PC Gamer, Green Man Gaming as well as his own thought-leadership substack "Esprouts" looking at specific studies and stories where games meet gambling.

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