World Esports Championship 2024 Will Host Saudi Arabia: Date, Time And Where To Watch

The International Esports Federation (IESF) has announced that the World Esports Championship (WEC) will be taking place in Saudi Arabia in 2024. The announcement was made in the closing ceremony of the World Esports Championship which was held in Isai, Romania from 26th August to 3rd September 2023. While the host city has not yet been revealed, it is expected that the IESF will make an announcement in the coming days.

Back in June, Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud, a member of the Saudi royal family and Chairman of the Saudi Esports Federation (SEF), was made the Statutory Vice President of the IESF.

“We are thrilled to host the IESF’s 16th World Esports Championship in Saudi Arabia in 2024 to demonstrate our strong support for the IESF,” said His Royal Highness Prince Faisal Bin Bandar Bin Sultan Al Saud, Chairman of SEF. “We extend a very warm welcome to esports enthusiasts from all over the world. We give our unwavering commitment to deliver a world-class event that not only reflects our passion for esports but also underscores our dedication to its expansion. Together, we look forward to creating an unforgettable World Esports Championship experience in the heart of Riyadh.”

At the closing ceremony of WEC 2023, Vlad Marinescu, President of IESF, officially handed over the IESF flag to Saudi Arabia. After which he made the announcement saying, “As we wrap up a truly historic edition of the World Esports Championship, it is an honour to announce Saudi Arabia as the next host country.” He further added, “We look forward to working with Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Esports Federation and our incredible partners to continue to grow and promote esports on the global stage.”

The World Esports Championship is a global esports tournament that has been running since 2009. The event is where national esports teams chosen by the IESF member national esports federations, compete to be crowned world champions.

The decision to host the next event in Saudi Arabia comes during rapid growth and investments in the world of esports by the ruling Saudi family. The sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia has major stakes in multiple game developers and owns Vindex along with ESL FACEIT Group. Last year, the country made known its ambitious national strategy for esports. The recent Gamers8 festival hosted by the SEF even had a mind-bending $45 million prize pool.

While the move to host the World Esports Championship is certainly exciting amid growing ties, it has also sparked some controversy. This is due to concerns over the human rights record in Saudi Arabia especially around women and LGBTQ+ rights. Some sceptics referred to the actions of the country as ‘esportswashing.’

The WEC tournaments in 2023, included popular games like Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) which had an Open category along with a Women’s category as well. Other games included in the lineup were DOTA 2, Tekken 7, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, eFootball, and PUBG Mobile.

Although the WEC is a popular esports event, viewership for the 2023 WEC was low, especially in popular titles like CS: GO which had a peak viewership of 13,600 for the Open and 15,300 for the Women’s events. While Dota 2 registered a peak viewership of 21,800, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang managed to draw in a huge peak of 700,000 viewership.

The local Romanian news media in June, reported multiple allegations of shady activities around the local Isai sports federation and the IESF. This included reports of the payments of the WEC 2023 licence fee being transferred to a newly established North Macedonia subsidiary rather than to the IESF headquarters. However, when approached, an IESF spokesperson denied any wrongdoing.