Cristiano Ronaldo, FIFA president platform! Saudi Arabia will host the Esports World Cup in 2024
E-sports Big Business Issue 732, grasp every e-sports business opportunity
Wen | Liu Liu
On October 14, 2023, IOC President Bach publicly stated at the 141st IOC Assembly in Mumbai, India: "I have asked the newly established IOC E-Sports Committee to study the creation of an Olympic Games that belongs to esports. (Read more: IOC President Bach: 3 billion gamers worldwide We want to create an esports Olympics)
Nine days later, on October 23, The New Global Sport Conference was also held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and invited football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, FIFA President Gianni Infantino and other guests to attend. In addition to traditional sports, a number of e-sports industry "giants" also attended, including LGD, Hero Sports VSPO, ESL, Huya, G2, NIP, Team Vitality and other e-sports industry representatives.
At this meeting, Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman officially announced that Saudi Arabia will host the annual Esports World Cup, which will use the world's most popular esports and will also have the largest prize pool in the history of esports, but the exact amount of the prize pool has yet to be revealed. The inaugural Esports World Cup will be held in Riyadh in the summer of 2024.
In the future, e-sports fans can watch the Olympic Games and World Cup exclusive to e-sports, but according to the information given by the International Olympic Committee and Saudi Arabia, the e-sports World Cup will most likely be held with the e-sports Olympic Games first.
FIFA President Giannino attended the meeting
The eSports World Cup will replace Gamer8 to attract global tourists to Riyadh
In recent years, Saudi Arabia has expanded rapidly in e-sports events, holding Gamer8 e-sports events on July 6 this year with a total prize fund of 45 million US dollars (about 321 million yuan), and the eight-week e-sports event attracted the world's top e-sports teams, such as Natus Vincere, G2, FaZe and so on. (Extended reading: Prize money 100 million becomes 200 million!) Saudi Arabia wants to make Gamers8 the world's biggest esports event)
The eSports World Cup, which Saudi Arabia will host in 2024, will replace the previous Gamer8 event and be hailed as the largest global event of its kind, and it will be used as a platform to support the development of the gaming and esports industry and further strengthen Saudi Arabia's position as an international esports hub.
Prince Mohammed bin Salman also announced the creation of the Esports World Cup Foundation, a non-profit organization that aims to strengthen collaboration among stakeholders in the esports industry.
List of conference speakers
The inaugural Esports World Cup will take on a new format of competition that hopes to maximize competition among the top esports teams from around the world. Saudi Arabia will also add a variety of activities and programs to the event, fully attracting esports fans and tourists from all over the world to Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, hoping to make Riyadh a "global gaming center".
The Saudi government also hopes to promote Saudi Arabia's summer tourism and economic development through the hosting of the e-sports World Cup. Currently, Saudi Arabia's hotel occupancy rate is down 16 percent from previous years, tourism spending is down 18 percent, restaurant and café spending is down 13 percent, and consumer purchasing power is down 9 percent.
Most importantly, the Esports World Cup will be a crucial part of achieving Saudi Arabia's national vision for 2030. The main objective of Saudi Arabia's national strategy for gaming and esports is to directly and indirectly contribute about 50 billion riyals (about 93.28 billion yuan) to Saudi GDP to achieve economic growth, and to create 39,000 new jobs through gaming and esports.
Esports World Cup
Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud concluded, "The eSports World Cup is a natural next step in Saudi Arabia's journey to become the world's premier gaming and esports hub, offering an unparalleled esports experience that pushes the boundaries of the industry. "The Esports World Cup Foundation will announce more details about the event in early 2024.
1.8 billion invested in hero sports VSPO Saudi Arabia to build a global esports gaming center
In September 2022, Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud unveiled a national strategy for gaming and esports. The strategy will usher in a new era of development for the Saudi gaming and esports industry and kick off Saudi Arabia's National Vision 2030 by 2030 by making Saudi Arabia a global hub for the gaming and esports industry.
The four main objectives of the National Strategy for Gaming and Esports are to create 39,000 new jobs directly or indirectly through gaming and esports by improving the quality of life by improving the player experience, providing new entertainment opportunities, and achieving economic growth by directly and indirectly contributing approximately 50 billion riyals (approximately 93.28 billion yuan) to Saudi GDP.
By 2030, in addition to its main objectives, Saudi Arabia will implement the strategy through multiple projects, from the hosting of large-scale esports events to the creation of local studios capable of producing more than 30 competitive games. (Read more: Esports will contribute 93.2 billion GDP in 2030!) Saudi Crown Prince upgrades esports to national strategy)
Following the release of this national strategy, Saudi Arabia began to make drastic development in the field of gaming and esports. In October 2022, Savvy Games Group (SGG), an esports and gaming company owned by Saudi sovereign wealth fund PIF, set aside US$37.8 billion (about 271.5 billion yuan) to invest in the esports and gaming industry.
The US$37.8 billion will be used in four major sectors, of which US$13.3 billion (about 95.5 billion yuan) will be used to acquire a top global game publisher, US$18.6 billion (about 133.6 billion yuan) will be used to acquire the equity of other game companies, 5.3 billion US dollars (about 38 billion yuan) will be used to invest in SSG's partners, and the remaining 532 million US dollars (about 3.8 billion yuan) will be used to reward disruptors in the game industry and increase the value and expertise of SSG's products. (Extended reading: Another $37.8 billion against Microsoft!) Saudi Arabia "buys, buys, buys" out of the world's esports hub)
In April 2023, Saudi sovereign wealth fund PIF once again invested 38 billion US dollars, in order to build Saudi Arabia into a game center, PIF's subsidiary SSG will focus most of its efforts on the independent research and development of local Saudi games.
The US$38 billion invested by PIF in SSG will be used in four areas, and US$13 billion will be used to acquire a top global game company; $19 billion for SSG's own development; $500 million will be used to invest in gaming startups; The remaining $5 billion will be invested in more large companies. (Read more: Invest $38 billion!) Saudi Arabia wants to be the first "game center" in the universe)
In addition to investing in local gaming and esports companies in Saudi Arabia, SSG also invested 1.8 billion yuan in cash for Chinese esports company Hero Sports VSPO, an investment that set a new record for cash investment in the history of the esports industry. Since then, SSG has become the largest external investor shareholder of Hero Sports VSPO, contributing to the global development of Hero Sports VSPO.
The partnership between Hero Sports and VSPO and SSG will greatly facilitate its continued expansion into the Middle East and Saudi Arabia, thereby positively impacting its expansion in other markets around the world. At the same time, Hero Sports VSPO also plans to use this investment for the research and development and wide application of XR, AR, AI and other technologies in the field of esports. (Extended reading: 1.8 billion yuan investment from Saudi Arabia!) Hero Sports VSPO globalization strategy accelerated)
In recent years, the e-sports industry has maintained rapid growth around the world, and the good revenue generated in Saudi Arabia has also stimulated the healthy growth of the audience, further laying a solid foundation for the subsequent development of the industry. Coupled with Saudi Arabia's strong financial foundation, there is reason to believe that with the emergence and popularization of new technologies such as cloud gaming and 5G networks, the development space of Saudi e-sports industry will be further extended, and more local and even overseas e-sports teams and fans will be enthusiastically participating in the future.