Saudi Arabia Hopes Esports Olympics Will Kickstart Gaming Tourism

Saudi Arabia is set to host the first Esports Olympic Games next year, an event it hopes will bring in a new group of tourists for gaming.

The Gulf nation is so serious about building a world-class gaming industry that the sector has a voice in government. Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud, Chairman of the Saudi Esports Federation, spoke in Riyadh last week about his ambitions.

“We’re launching a gaming and esports authority, and within that is a gaming and esports national strategy,” said Al Saud at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh. “It allows us to facilitate conversations between the public and private sectors. It helps us set KPIs to become a global hub for gaming and esports, we need to keep to a roadmap in order to achieve that.”

Since the launch in 2016 of the Saudi Vision to remake the economy, more and more has been put behind gaming. At the end of August, the country concluded its inaugural Esports World Cup event, reported to have brought in 2 million visitors and around 500 million online.

It was a big deal in Saudi. $60 million was put in by the government for just the prize pool, with the event’s conclusion attended by Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince.

Al Saud said the goal is to put Saudi on the map. “When you think of gaming and esports, there are a few places that come to mind: Japan, South Korea, America, and Canada. We want Saudi to be a part of that conversation, we want people to think of coming to Saudi as they do any of those other countries.”

“When you talk about mainstream sports, you talk about the NFL in the U.S., the World Cup globally and the Olympics. When you talk about a global audience, esports is mainstream.”

Details such as dates and games to be played are yet to be announced, but it is confirmed Saudi will host the first Esports Olympic Games sometime next year.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Saudi Arabia have a 12-year deal for the Esports Olympic Games to be held “regularly.”