Saudi Arabia-backed esports festival Gamers8 has featured countless international tournaments since it commenced in July, including leading games like CS:GO, Dota 2, PUBG and Rocket League. However, viewership performance has varied greatly across esports titles.
The second edition of Gamers8’s festival, called ‘Land of Heroes’, is taking place from July 6th – August 27th in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh. Notably, the festival offers the biggest prize pool in the history of esports at $45m (~£33.74m).
Gamers8 and Saudi Arabia’s wider increasing investment in esports is, however, the subject of criticism due to the government’s human rights record, including on LGBTQ+ matters. Gamers8 is organised by the state-run Saudi Arabian Federation for Electronic and Intellectual Sports, which is chaired by Saudi Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan.
