IOC and Saudi Arabia end Olympic Esports Games partnership
The International Olympic Committee has cancelled its 12-year agreement with Saudi Arabia to stage the inaugural Olympic Esports Games in Riyadh, saying both sides “mutually agreed” to end the cooperation while each pursues esports ambitions separately.
The event had been announced during the 2024 Paris Olympics and was originally planned to launch this year before being pushed back to 2027 amid concerns about the time required to mount the competition. The deal would have seen Riyadh host the Esports Games under a long-term partnership between the IOC and the Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee.
Officials described the decision as a mutual reset after discussions between the IOC, Saudi organisers and the Esports World Cup Foundation; both parties said they wanted to develop esports projects on separate paths rather than continue the joint programme.
Saudi Arabia has rapidly positioned itself as a major backer of competitive gaming, hosting the annual Esports World Cup and using sovereign-backed capital to underwrite expensive in-person events as part of a broader economic shift away from oil revenue. That financial muscle has accelerated event growth but also drawn criticism that high-profile sports and gaming investments are used to deflect attention from the kingdom’s human rights record and restrictive social laws.
Saudi organisers have said they will press forward with their own projects, including a planned Esports Nations Cup slated to begin in November 2026, allowing players to compete under national flags. The IOC, for its part, says it still intends to stage an Olympic-branded esports competition to run alongside the traditional summer and winter Games, building on past test events and multi-sport experimentations.
Beyond events, Saudi interests have moved deeper into the wider games industry. The kingdom led a headline bid to buy Electronic Arts for a record sum and holds stakes in several major publishers; that takeover talk prompted some high-profile creator backlash, with prominent content makers pausing coverage in protest.
