E-Sports Olympics to be held in Saudi Arabia in 2025

The first Olympic e-sports games will be held in Saudi Arabia in 2025. This was announced by the Olympic Committee IOC at the weekend. The IOC and Saudi Arabia have therefore agreed on a twelve-year partnership. It is not clear from the announcement whether further games will be held in Saudi Arabia within these twelve years.

Saudi Arabia's Olympic Association NOC has "unique expertise" in the field of e-sports, commented IOC President Thomas Bach on the announcement. "Through the partnership with the Saudi NOC, we have also ensured that the Olympic values are respected," said Bach – this applies in particular to gender equality.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman wants to spend 39 billion US dollars by 2030 to establish Saudi Arabia as the "ultimate global center for gaming and e-sports". In doing so, the Saudi crown prince aims to diversify the economy, but according to Human Rights Watch, he also intends to divert attention from the country's human rights violations, including discrimination against women.

With "League of Legends"?

The Olympic e-sports games in Saudi Arabia are set to be the first of their kind. So far, the Olympic Committee has gained its first experience with competitive video games with smaller events such as an e-sports weekend. So far, the IOC has demonstrated a fundamental lack of interest in the popular titles: Instead of "League of Legends", "Dota 2" and "Counter-Strike" , insignificant titles such as the mobile games "Tic Tac Bow" or "Tennis Clash" were played at an e-sports weekend in Singapore.

Thomas Bach's IOC prefers video games that are based on real sports. The actually popular e-sports titles have not fitted into the picture so far: "We cannot have a game in the Olympic program that propagates violence and oppression," said IOC President Thomas in 2018.

According to the French sports newspaper L'Équipe, however, a change in strategy could be on the cards. Games such as "League of Legends", "Street Fighter" and "Rocket League" could also be included in the Olympic program. This could give the event an entirely different relevance, at least in terms of content.

It remains to be seen whether the developers of these games will agree to a partnership. In 2020, League of Legends developer Riot Games scrapped a sponsorship deal with Saudi city project The Line by Neom after an outcry from the community.

(dahe)