The New Masters of Esports
The Saudi Arabian government and HRH Prince MBS should be commended for subjugating (almost) an entire industry in just a few short years.
I have been thinking a lot about the Esports World Cup over the last week or so and how its organizers have been so incredibly brilliant in changing the narrative. While it has been amazing to watch, it has been done with all the precision of sledgehammer. It turns out that the best way to change the narrative on hosting a multi-week competition in a country such as Saudi Arabia is to simply spend billions of dollars.
Investing billions in acquiring key companies (ESL, DreamHack, FACEIT, Esports Engine), and spending hundreds of millions of dollars more to bring the top IP holders (Riot Games, Epic Games, Activision Blizzard, EA, Microsoft, Tencent, Ubisoft, KRAFTON), stakeholders (BLAST, NODWIN, Hero Esports, and even the Esports Awards) and esports organizations (FaZe Clan, G2 Esports, Team Liquid, 100 Thieves, T1, etc.) into the fold, the Saudi Arabian government managed to make an entire industry bend to its will. It is not a tall tale to say that the global esports industry has been subjugated by the government of Saudi Arabia.
With the 2025 Esports World Cup kicking off this week, there appears to be no resistance left—not from fans, esports organizations, game makers, tournament organizers, etc.
The smartest thing the Saudis did was create the Esports World Cup Partner Program, which gives a financial incentive to esports organizations to promote the event to its fans. Once esports organizations and popular content creators started promoting the event, fans began accepting it without question; after all if there favorite team is competing there, how bad could it be? And at the end of the day, fans don’t care about how the sausage is made as they don’t have to pay for it.
Perhaps the most complict of all is the media, the very people you would hope to give you frank, honest truth. If you read a news story about the Esports World Cup this week and beyond, chances are there will be no more mention of the Saudi Arabian government’s questionable human rights record, its treatment of women and members of the LGBTQ+ community, or the fact that during the 2024 competitions, dozens of people were publicly executed while the top competitive teams in the world vied for a chunk of the massive prize pool. That’s because everyone is either taking money from the government or outlets have adopted the attitude of “go along to get along.”
Let’s understand why all of this matters: we tie the things the government of Saudi Arabia does to the Esports World Cup because it directly funds it through a grant and it owns the companies that operate it including Savvy Games Group subsidiary ESL FACEIT Group (which is home to ESL, FACEIT, DreamHack, and Esports Engine). If it didn’t own these things/fund them, we really wouldn’t have much to say about it.
So congratulations are in order to the Saudi Arabian government and HRH Prince MBS: You made an entire industry willingly bow at your feet. - James Fudge.
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🥤Pepsi returns as Esports World Cup sponsor.
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📱HONOR returns to support mobile esports at Esports World Cup.
How about get creative for once instead of banging this same drum 3+ years in a row. Yes, the Saudis have a "track record" as you stated, so does China, USA, UK, France, Germany, Israel, Russia, Ukraine, Brazil you name it. Every country does messed up things, but we only take this "special" approach with those who we can openly criticize or those that are not your target demo.
Esports went from mild irrelevance to "big business" in the span of a decade, and post COVID there was not enough money to cover expenses for all that VP seed moneys across the board. Saudis came with the money and in return they get to participate in the ecosystem that people like you and others are/were trying to gatekeep them from. You dont get to "fix" Saudis by blocking them or making moronic low IQ takes on LinkedIn. Use the EWC to influence culture and bring the positives of esports to them. Maybe influence the culture so they "see the light", and benefits of this inclusive environment. How about that?
On a personal note. Do some proper writing and editorial, stop begging your competitors for external links to your mid publication every time someone mentions some half-baked shit article you post. Stop being the worst pissoir take journalist out there.
Get good dog. Peace!
We’re doomed