Canceling the Olympic Games for electronic sports in Saudi Arabia

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has canceled a deal it struck with Saudi Arabia to host the first eSports Games.

The competition was scheduled to be held in the capital, Riyadh, in 2027 as part of a 12-year deal with the kingdom.

It was originally scheduled to launch this year, but was postponed due to concerns about the time needed to arrange the event.

A statement from the IOC said the two sides “mutually agreed” to finalize the deal but were committed to “pursuing their esports ambitions on separate paths.”

Saudi Arabia has become a major player in the world of competitive gaming, hosting the annual eSports World Cup for the past two years.

After the boom before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, many major esports competitions and teams have struggled to find the funds to hold expensive in-person events.

Saudi Arabia has expressed its willingness to finance the events through the Public Investment Fund (PIF) which it says is part of efforts to move away from dependence on oil for income generation.

The kingdom has also invested heavily in traditional sports, and critics say the practice — known as “sportswashing” — is intended to distract attention from the kingdom’s human rights record and its anti-LGBTQ laws.

Despite separating from the International Olympic Committee, the country recently announced plans to start an eSports Nations Cup tournament from November 2026, allowing competitors to compete under their national flags.

The International Olympic Committee says it still has plans to hold its own eSports Olympics, to be held alongside the traditional summer and winter games.

It has previously run test events involving fighting and driving games, and in 2022 the Commonwealth Games hosted its own esports tournament.

However, organizers of the 2026 Games in Australia have abandoned plans to proceed.

Saudi Arabia’s interest in the gaming industry extends beyond esports, as it recently led a bid to buy gaming giant Electronic Arts for a record $55bn (£42bn).

The company publishes popular video games including EA FC, Battlefield, and Apex Legends.

This week, some of the biggest content creators associated with EA’s other big series, The Sims, said they would stop producing videos about the game in protest of the sale.

Saudi Arabia also owns shares in Take Two, publisher of Grand Theft Auto, maker of Resident Evil Capcom, and Nintendo.

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