2025 Year In Review: WBSC continues exciting eBaseball™ progress with year of expansion and memorable moments
The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) had one of the biggest years for eSports in 2025, bringing competitive eBaseball™ to more places than ever before, creating an expanded field for the WBSC eBaseball™ Series, and crowning a new world champion. In all, the year continued to build WBSC’s status as an innovator for competitive eSports.
Tournament expands to more countries/regions than ever before
WBSC’s flagship eSports event, the WBSC eBaseball™ Series, returned in 2025 with its third edition, bringing WBSC eBASEBALL™: POWER PROS to more countries and regions with an expanded tournament.
The WBSC eBaseball™ Series 2025 had over 15 online qualifying tournaments, with players participating from countries/regions that have been part of the Series before and those who were participating for the first time. Local online qualifying tournaments were held in Hong Kong, China, Lithuania, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Chinese Taipei, France, Argentina, India, Japan, Mexico, Korea, and the United States.
In addition to Chinese Taipei and the United States, who have previously organised in-person eBaseball™ events, Lithuania reached a significant milestone by hosting their first physical national championship during their debut in the WBSC eBaseball™ Series.
Along with the national qualifying tournaments, there were two more online qualifiers held: The Global Qualifier, and the first-ever Women’s Qualifier, an effort by the WBSC to promote diversity and inclusiveness in the eBaseball™ community and create new avenues for all players to be able to compete in the annual competition.
This expansion led to the most diverse field yet in the WBSC eBaseball™ Series 2025 World Finals, bringing fresh talent to the WBSC’s eSports community.
New talent highlights WBSC eBaseball™ Series 2025 World Finals
This year’s World Finals in the WBSC eBaseball™ Series 2025 took place across a number of phases and brought more international competition than ever before to the biggest stage in WBSC eSports.
A total of 12 players competed in the World Finals, with talent from Japan, Chinese Taipei, the United States, Mexico, Italy, Korea, Switzerland, France and Argentina.
The Opening Round showcased plenty of new eBaseball™ talent in the online tournament, with debut players from Korea, Argentina and France making a big impact on the tournament. In the end, in one of the closest tournaments in WBSC eBaseball™ Series history, benzen of Mexico and MSQA of Italy took the top two spots in the tournament in a three-way tiebreaker, advancing to the Super Round.
The field was rounded out by Tomokun of Japan, SHE SHE of Chinese Taipei, Women’s Qualifier Champion Hig Yurune of Japan, Global Qualifier champion POME of Japan, USA Champion compass, and Wild Card Jon’sCopyright of the United States. Defending champion SHORA of Japan had excellent qualifier tournament performances, but was unable to qualify for the World Finals, ending his run of back-to-back world champion titles.
Super Round and Finals a hit in Raleigh
The culminating event of the year was the WBSC eBaseball™ Series 2025 World Finals, presented by Visit Raleigh. The event took place from 8-9 November at the North Carolina State University Gaming and Esports Lab in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA.
The competition showcased plenty of high-level competition in WBSC eBASEBALL™: POWER PROS, bringing together everyone who qualified from the multiple qualifying events throughout the year.
Eight players participated in the competition, which featured thrilling action and iconic moments throughout the weekend.
Fans online and at the venue witnessed the crowning of POME as the new world champion following a 2-0 sweep of Tomokun in the finals, becoming the second player ever to win the WBSC eBaseball™ Series title as well as an international eBaseball™ competition.
USA’s compass finished in third place after a thrilling walk-off victory against Hig Yurune in the third-place game, becoming the first player outside of Asia earning a medal.
Continuing Partnerships
WBSC continued and further strengthened its collaboration with Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd. (KONAMI) in 2025, as well as its growing partnership with USA Baseball. Over the past three editions of the Series, USA Baseball has played a central role in elevating WBSC eBaseball™ events in the United States - hosting the eBaseball USA Finals in 2023 at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, the USA Finals and HUGAN WBSC ePremier12 Group A in 2024 at North Carolina State University, and most recently the USA Finals and WBSC eBaseball™ Series 2025 World Finals.
With Visit Raleigh serving as the title sponsor for this year’s World Finals, these partnerships continue to expand the reach of the game and its tournaments, while further strengthening WBSC’s status within the global eSports landscape.
Looking Ahead
As 2025 comes to an end, WBSC made plenty of strides in the eSports realm, and will look to build on that success in 2026. Through a continued global expansion of the WBSC eBaseball™ Series and fresh ideas for the future, WBSC remains committed to eSports and fostering vibrant, inclusive communities for both fans and players.
With the renewal of WBSC’s agreement with Newdin Contents and the launch of the WBSC Virtual Cup 2026–2028, the organisation is also poised to further strengthen its digital ecosystem. This extended collaboration will bring new competitive opportunities worldwide and help enhance WBSC’s long-term eSports initiatives.
Categories: eSports , Year in Review
