The magnitude of the ongoing Esports World Cup (EWC) in Saudi Arabia has captured the global imagination, providing a timely opportunity to develop the sport as the Olympic movement takes note of its popularity, said a Saudi official in the sector.
The International Olympic Committee has announced it has partnered with the National Olympic Committee of Saudi Arabia to host the first Olympic Esports Games in 2025.
Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud, chairman of the Saudi Esports Federation, said in an interview that the event is just the beginning of a new era for competitive video gaming at the professional level.
"First and foremost, this is a partnership that has been put together between the International Olympic Committee and the Saudi Arabia Olympic Committee. And it is an ambitious 12-year agreement and it is helping to ensure that these games will be held regularly," he said.
The first-ever Esports World Cup (EWC) is underway in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh, drawing the world's top gamers to compete across 22 tournaments for a staggering 60 million U.S. dollar prize pool, which organizers have called "life-changing".
Featuring 22 tournaments spanning the two-month-long competition, popular games such as Fortnite, Street Fighter, and games published by EA Sports are captivating millions of fans worldwide.
Al Saud said that holding large events like the EWC will help esports become better recognized by the world and give it ample opportunity to develop on a global scale.
"The idea there is to make sure we had an arena to really allow esports and our athletes to stake a claim and help us maneuver our way forward within the Olympic movement. As a sport, esports is not new, it has been there for ten odd years. It is new when you look at traditional sports from hundreds of years ago, obviously. But finding our way through the Olympic movement, it's something that we need to make sure we do right, to make sure we're doing right by this community, these athletes, and also right by the Olympic movement," he said.
"Having an event of this magnitude is something that we as Saudi Arabia are very proud of and very humbled by. It is something that has captured the imagination not just here but internationally. And we want to make sure that we are taking every effort to take it step by step, do the right thing, grow it in the right way as part of the Olympic movement, and allow it to stake its own claim," said the prince.
Esports to develop step by step, integrating into Olympic movement: Saudi official
