The Esports World Cup has kicked off, with many of the most popular competitive games gathering in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This kicks off nearly two months of intense competition for the huge prize money that the vast majority of esports teams and players are fighting for.
The total prize money for all the tournaments was over $60 million, all funded by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), making the eSports World Cup the largest government-funded eSports event ever. This, in turn, has raised serious concerns about sports laundering – a form of propaganda carried out through the staging of sporting events, sponsorship of teams and the lavish spending of money on a particular sport.
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The Saudi Arabian government has come under heavy scrutiny from organizations like Amnesty International for its history of human rights violations. In 2023 alone, the country has sentenced individuals to long prison terms for peaceful protests, death sentences to others, and committed a variety of crimes against migrants at its border, including killings.
Esports isn’t the first avenue for the Saudi Arabian government to make such investments. The Public Investment Fund we mentioned earlier was used to make big waves in the golf world, making the Saudi government the dominant force in the Liv Golf series. It also owns controlling stakes in multiple soccer teams, has established a national presence in UFC competitors, and has dabbled in many other areas.
One could argue that in the case of esports, this is part of the country’s attempt to diversify its portfolio away from its reliance on oil, as explicitly outlined in the country’s Vision 2030 plan. While this may make sense for some gaming investments, such as Saudi Arabia’s Savvy Gaming Group’s lucrative acquisition of Monopoly Go developer Scopely, esports has historically struggled to actually generate revenue.
In a 2015 study, EEDAR found that CS:GO fans were one of the largest consumer groups. Makes you cry $6.16 per person. Enough perhaps Two pints, which was the highest recorded before the current recession that many esports fans are currently living in. Esports, in general, is not making money.
With that in mind, it doesn’t make sense from a profitability standpoint to invest so much in prize money for the Esports World Cup. The opening ceremony was viewed more than 1.1 million times on Twitch — which is certainly a lot — but it and ticket sales hardly make up for the $60 million investment. The event was designed to make Saudi Arabia look like the future home of gaming, and to make the Saudi government look cool and hip: one that understands what the younger generation wants.
But why should you care? If you’re a regular person who enjoys League of Legends or Street Fighter 6 and is excited to see your favorite players battle it out on stage, how does this affect you? Well, there are obviously moral implications. Many teams, players, and commentators boycotted the Esports World Cup, and it wasn’t out of xenophobia towards the people of Saudi Arabia. People may not be able to choose where they are born or which government they pay taxes to, but they able Control whose money they take. able Control the people you work with.
Let’s clarify this with a hypothetical. The UK is about to go through an election, and it looks like Kier Starmer’s Labour Party will win. Then, if Kier announces Starmer Street Fighter Slamusing government money to pay competitors and staff, those attending in a professional capacity will work with the UK government to put on an event that makes the UK government look good. This is the same UK government, incidentally, that is still supporting the genocide taking place in Gaza. In Kiir’s case, this is the government that will continue to pursue regressive policies against the trans community. I will not be working at that event because these two factors (among others) go against my morals. The same can be extrapolated to Saudi Arabia.
But hey, let’s say you really don’t care about these things and just want esports to do well. That’s shortsighted too! In recent years, we’ve seen esports teams go through an “esports winter” as investment funding dried up, largely due to the unprofitability of the field. Instead of rolling up their sleeves and taking the path to sustainability, the industry as a whole found another pacifier to lean on, pushing financial issues to later without considering long-term sustainability.
Yes, this means teams will be able to recruit a fresh crop of players to compete in the Esports World Cup, but it also means that these players will be fired immediately if the Saudi government decides to shut down the funding. These players are being fired in order to make a quick buck. This is not a stable foundation.
This is a strange and sad time in the history of competitive gaming. Many people are eager to attend EWC for the chance to earn a huge paycheck (I get it, people have to pay rent), but I can’t help but think about the companies that are participating in the tournament. They were happily flying the pride flag a month ago, and as the calendar turns to the next page, they are taking money from a country that prohibits gay people from existing. It paints a depressing and vivid picture. The gaming community has taken notice.
