High-Profile Content Creators Line Up to Promote Qiddiya Gaming

High Profile Gamers Line Up to Promote Qiddiya Gaming. Credit: Qiddiya

Several high-profile content creators promoted the Qiddiya mega city project, or more precisely “Qiddiya Gaming” on Twitch, Kick, and social media platforms on Thursday, in what appears to be a loosely coordinated marketing campaign as the gaming and esports district aspect of the mega city project located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was unveiled publicly.

Those influencers included Nick “NickMercs” Kolcheff, YourRAGE, King George, and Jaryd “Summit1g” Lazar. Other high-profile creators that promoted Qiddiya Gaming on socials and during streams—according to an Esports.gg report—including XSET Co-Owner Cody “Clix” Conrod,  Felipe “brTT” Gonçalves, Kai Cenat, and Stable Ronaldo, among others. Some of this promotion—particularly responses to the announcement and sharing on X/Twitter—could be genuine excitement for the project and may not have included compensation (The Esports Advocate could not independently verify that the aforementioned people received payments for their participation).

Public support for Qiddiya ranged from ads or sharing of official Qiddiya Gaming posts on social media (Instagram and X/Twitter), graphics on streaming channels, and ads in stream chats on Thursday broadcasts.  Some talent were using affiliate links from Los Angeles-based agency Loaded, which were directed through load.gg (a domain it owns that redirects to loaded.gg), suggesting that the marketing campaign was being facilitated by the agency.

The Esports Advocate reached out to Loaded on Friday morning, but the company did not respond to our request for comment, as of this writing.

Some of this promotion was clearly marked as #AD content, while other activities were not.  In the U.S., paid content and related marketing activities require some sort of descriptor to let the public know, according to Federal Trade Commission rules on disclosures. From the FTC website:

If you endorse a product through social media, your endorsement message should make it obvious when you have a relationship (“material connection”) with the brand. A “material connection” to the brand includes a personal, family, or employment relationship or a financial relationship – such as the brand paying you or giving you free or discounted products or services.

While this line-up of content creators promoting Qiddiya to Western audiences is a new development, they are not the first to promote a PIF-backed project in the region. For example, TEA reported in November that Call of Duty professional player and OpTic Gaming-aligned CoD content creator Seth “Scump” Abner heavily promoted the the Esports World Expo on Twitch, in a YouTube short, and during an episode of with OpTic CEO Hector “H3CZ” Rodriguez in an episode of The Last Podcast in late-October.

In case you missed the announcement on Thursday, Qiddiya City is a mega city project being built in the vicinity of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia  by the Qiddiya Investment Company (QIC), which is owned by the “Public Investment Fund,” or Saudi Arabia’s government-owned and operated sovereign wealth fund.

Announced in April of 2017 by Saudi Arabia’s leader HRH Prince Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (MBS), the project hopes to be an international entertainment destination offering “video gaming headquarters, motorsports area, Formula 1 racetrack, golf courses, Six Flags theme park, water park, music festivals, and various sports competitions” when it is completed.

On Thursday, former Team Liquid executive Mike Milanov announced that he had joined Qiddiya Gaming as its new chairman of the company’s gaming & esports advisory board, which includes Falcons Esports Co-Founder and Chairman Musaad AlDossary and  Heroic Founder and former CEO & Chairman Joachim Haraldsen. It was also revealed that former IMG Worlds of Adventure VP of Marketing, International Business, Special Projects & Licensing Rajiv Sangari has joined the company as an advisor on game and other entertainment-focused licensing.

QIC is wholly owned by the PIF, which also owns a stake in Chinese tournament organizer VSPO, and Savvy Games Group—the parent company of ESL FACEIT Group (ESL, FACEIT, DreamHack, Vindex, Esports Engine, etc.).

Qiddiya, NEOM (another mega city project), the Esports World Cup Foundation, and Savvy Games Group’s investments in gaming, are all part of the Saudi government’s Vision 2030 initiative, which aims to open up the country to global commerce, create jobs, and provide various types of entertainment for citizens and international visitors.