Summary

• Esports World Cup faces controversy due to Saudi funding and the country's human rights record, leading to allegations of "esportswashing."
• The Esports World Cup's viewership struggles to surpass regular LEC matches, raising questions about the tournament's success and the esports industry's growth.
• Games Done Quick, a community-run charity livestream, garners higher viewership and raises more money for charity than the Esports World Cup, showcasing the power of community events.

The Esports World Cup kicked off this weekend with 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:League of Legends, one of the biggest esports in the world. The tou💞rname🃏nt was won by League megastar Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-hyeok. The sole inductee in the LoL esports Hall of Legends took T1 to a decisive victory live on Twitch in front of nearly 100,000 online viewers. So why are esports commentators suggesting that the Esports World Cup might already be a failure?

The competition h🍌as already been mired in coౠntroversy. It’s hosted in Saudi Arabia, and the government of the country is also . Esports investigative reporter Jacob Wolf believes that the Saudi government shelled out for the event.

People have taken issue with this because of , . Games like Apex Legends, with 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:rosters of LGBTQ+ characters, are being played in a country where n🅠one of those characters could be their true selves if they walked the streets. , while others are in protest.

Esports World Cup Foundation CEO Ralf Reichert told that “"Everyone is welcome", but warned LGBTQ+ people, “don't be explicit”, whatever that means. His comments did little to deescalate the allegations of that have been following the tournament.

The League of Legends World Cup final peaked at 99,327 viewers on the offic𒐪ial stream, which sounds impressive until you realise that regular season LEC matches .

Why Is The Esports World Cup A Big Deal?

The Saudi-funded Esports World Cup was supposed to be an antidote for the decline in esports interest ♛since the pandemic. , , and players have been left that they worked so hard to build. Many justified the murky source of the EWC money by saying the tournament would revitalise the entire esports industry.

But maybe this is the peak. If, after the millions spent on m🌼arketing and the biggest players performing, the Esports World Cup can’t garner more interest than a regular day of LEC play, perhaps esports needs to reassess its popularity. Yes, it still sells out massive arenas, and yes, prize pools often hit the millions for top teams in the biggest games, but perpetual growth is unsustainable.

What’s The Alternative To The Esports World Cup?

Wolf also pointed out on (formerly Twitter) that Games Done Quick, a biannual livestream in which the best speedrunners in the world show off their strats to raise money for charity, had m♏ore viewers than the Esp൲orts World Cup.

While the EWC League streꦑam peaked at 99,327 viewers and Games Don๊e Quick at 83,917, the latter’s average viewership was much higher at 44,562 to EWC’s 36,874 (all stats from ).

This is a community-run event to raise money for charity going head to head with an esports tournament with the backing of an entire country’s wealth fund. This is like Fores﷽t Green Rovers beating Newcastle United in the FA Cup final, thꦯen donating the prize money to charity. That one will probably go over the heads of American readers, but you get the picture.

Games Done Quick does have a few advantages, most notably 14 years of experience hosting charity livestreams. However, the Esports World Cup has players like Faker and Phillip ‘ImperialHal’ Dosen as the faces of its tournament, the latter of whom now plays for Saudi esports organisation Falcons after leaving TSM. These players have millions of followers each, while GDQ shines a spotlight on gamers with niche appeal. The competitors in Summer Games🔯 Done Quick are experts in their fields, t꧟he best speedrunners around, household names in their own communities, but the communities themselves are far more niche than the esports industry is.

GDQ also has a noble cause. People will tune in to support the cause rather than because they’꧃re a fan of any specific game on show &ndas🔜h; last week’s stream raised $2.5 million for Doctors Without Borders, taking the organisation’s lifetime total to $51 million raised for myriad charities since its inception in 2010.

GDQ has raised money for charities like AbleGamers, Doctors Without Borders, Organization for Autism Research, Malala Fund, National Women's Law Center, and Prevent Cancer Foundation across its livestreams.

Whi🍒le speedrunning won’t be the esports alternative for everyone, this shows that community events can be more powerful than soulless, state-backed competitions. It’s all well and good watching someone else win a life-changing amount of money, but the feeling of helping those who really need it is unmatched. Whether you donate to SDQ or have it running on your second screen while you work, know that you’re contributing to something better.

Gaming is a powerful tool. Some will use it to draw attention away from human rights abuses. Others will use it to help those abused. I’m not going to tell you to boycott the Esports World Cup, but maybe think twice about the media you consume before supporting bಌlindly. After all, SDQ isn’t going to reach £100 million of charitable donations on its own.